EDITORIAL: Henderson on right path, but don’t over-regulate medical marijuana

Henderson is taking the high road in licensing medical marijuana dispensaries. Rather than pick favorites at the outset of the process, the city proposes to screen license applicants based on defined suitability criteria, then forward them to state regulators for evaluation.

Under ordinances that will be considered by the City Council today, Henderson would not take the approach of Clark County, which invited a lobbying frenzy — and questions of integrity — by marching every applicant in front of the board and making its picks before state consideration. If the state doesn’t license a dispensary, the application dies.

As reported Monday by the Review-Journal’s Arnold Knightly, the state will rank the applicants before returning them to the city for final approval. The city’s requirement that 20 percent of the ownership of each dispensary partnership reside in Nevada is an invitation for connected insiders to cash in. But having the state recommend a cut line should immunize the council against accusations of preferential treatment.

Henderson is on the right path after initially appearing hostile to medical marijuana operations. There’s no keeping medical marijuana out of the state’s second-largest city — to say nothing of criminal recreational sales — when its neighbors are moving forward with licensed dispensaries. It’s better for Henderson to oversee sales of medical marijuana on its own terms.

A word of caution to the council as it takes up the licensing process: The goal should be getting this highly effective drug into the hands of the sick, not enriching city coffers. If the city’s fees are too high, the dispensaries will have to recover those costs through higher prices, which will send the sick to street dealers who don’t pay taxes.

Regulation of medical marijuana is good. Over-regulation invites unintended consequences and holds back a potential new industry before it even starts.