EDITORIAL: Redundant medical marijuana application process slows progress

Imposing vigorous county and state regulation upon an industry is old hat in Nevada. Look up and down the Las Vegas Strip for proof of how well that relationship can work.

But the licensing rigmarole that threatens the rollout of Nevada’s fledgling medical marijuana industry is quite different from the process that vets casino operators. State gaming regulators review the suitability of applicants and take into consideration their experience, their associations and their character. Local governments have jurisdiction over liquor licenses, planning and zoning, building codes and the like. The state, counties and cities serve decidedly different roles.

However, the state and Clark County have largely identical functions in selecting 18 medical marijuana dispensary operators for unincorporated areas of Southern Nevada. Both the county and the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health are vetting and ranking dispensary applicants based on experience, background, impact on the community and transportation and security plans, the Review-Journal’s Ben Botkin reported last week. The county is also considering zoning and location issues.

The duplication in the review process has created a predictably confusing and maddening outcome: Just 10 dispensary applicants have received the blessing of both the county and the state; eight earned the blessing of the county but not the state; and eight were ranked by the state but not the county. As a result, just 10 dispensaries could be ready to open in unincorporated Clark County in early 2015, diminishing the economic impact of the medical marijuana industry’s launch.

It’s bad news for the patients who’ve been waiting more than a decade to be able to purchase medicinal marijuana to relieve chronic pain, nausea and other ailments — Nevada voters amended the state constitution to legalize medical marijuana in 2000, but the Legislature didn’t create a legal process to sell the drug until last year. But it’s great news for lawyers.

The county has scheduled a Dec. 3 meeting to try to sort out its next steps. County officials say state officials aren’t answering their questions. And 26 dispensary companies have at least one government approval for the 18 spots allowed by law. The whole mess appears headed for court.

The county could have greatly simplified this process by approving and ranking more than 18 dispensary applications, which would have given the state a much larger pool to evaluate. The county’s process was absurdly political and driven by insiders; the state was bound to view the merits of various candidates differently. Indeed, one applicant, Tryke Companies SO NV, didn’t make the county’s cut but scored highest in the state’s review.

The 2015 Legislature has a full plate before the session even starts. Education, collective bargaining, pension and tax reform should be at the top of the agenda. But it appears lawmakers will need to set aside time to clean up the medical marijuana law they passed last year. Dispensaries clearly would benefit from a regulatory structure similar to gaming’s: empowering the state to determine suitability and leaving brick-and-mortar issues to local governments.