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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Nevada Republicans suffered a significant setback in last month\u2019s elections, despite good efforts, and we need to revisit some issues.\u00a0\u00a0We won\u2019t change our principles, but it\u2019s time to square those principles with some changed facts on the ground.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with marijuana.<\/p>\n
Consistent with Republican \u201cleave us alone\u201d principles that oppose federal micromanagement of people\u2019s lives, it\u2019s time for the federal government to make cannabis legal and get out of the way of the states on such matters.<\/p>\n
The President and Republicans in congress should lead the way.<\/p>\n
The first action is simple: the federal government should reclassify cannabis.\u00a0\u00a0It should not be a schedule one drug.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s even go this far: completely decriminalize cannabis at the federal level.<\/p>\n
With Republicans running point on the issue.<\/p>\n
The war on drugs, especially against cannabis, has been a dismal failure.\u00a0\u00a0Even before there was a recreational dispensary in nearly every major municipality in Nevada, it was not difficult to procure marijuana on the black market.\u00a0\u00a0Total social costs of this ineffectual war have greatly exceeded its total social benefits.<\/p>\n
One person said, \u201cEven before recreational cannabis was legal, I could get an ounce of weed delivered to my home faster than I could get a pizza.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Already part of the service economy.<\/p>\n
The electorates in three conservative states, Missouri, Oklahoma and Utah, voted to approve legalized medical cannabis in this year\u2019s election.\u00a0\u00a0This leaves just six states that still consider cannabis to be illegal for any purpose: Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, West Virginia and Indiana.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll be surprised if several of those states do not at least pass medical cannabis initiatives by 2020.\u00a0\u00a0Nationwide, the people have spoken.<\/p>\n
Yet, federal law still classifies cannabis as a schedule one drug, with no medical uses.<\/p>\n
Why?\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s huge money in big pharma, and if you follow the money, many folks waging this losing fight against the proliferation of medical and recreational cannabis have some association with big pharma.<\/p>\n
There are substantially fewer deaths from using cannabis than using psychotropic drugs and opioid pain killers big pharma continues to tell us are safe.\u00a0\u00a0Big pharma wants to deflect attention from the problems their products cause and avoid competition from cannabis, so they rail at it.<\/p>\n
Republicans nationwide should urge the Trump Administration and Congress to roll back the schedule one designation on cannabis and fully decriminalize it at the federal level.\u00a0\u00a0Let the states decide whether they want cannabis legalized for medical use only, recreational and medical use, or not legalized at all.<\/p>\n
Also, Republican legislators should be developing bipartisan legislation, led by either the Republican minority in the house or our majority in the senate, to eliminate cannabis banking restrictions and bring this industry into the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century.\u00a0\u00a0As controller and deputy controller, we\u2019re acutely aware of the financial and security problems federal prohibition has caused individuals and businesses, plus the states that have recognized even just the medical value of marijuana and legalized that use.<\/p>\n It\u2019s surprising we have not heard more stories of people being robbed going into cannabis establishments, which are all-cash businesses.\u00a0\u00a0We are equally surprised there have not been more robbery attempts at the dispensaries, which are often flush with cash.<\/p>\n Touring a medical dispensary a couple of years ago, James was told by the proprietor that he must regularly take large amounts of cash to the bank.\u00a0\u00a0To put it into a safe deposit box, of course, because it would be illegal to have a bank account and own a dispensary.\u00a0\u00a0Leaving his shop, traveling to the bank and entering it, he is an obvious target for thieves.<\/p>\n So, the federal government needs promptly to do at least two things: eliminate the federal schedule one designation and fully decriminalize marijuana; and change banking regulations to let this industry and its people operate in a safe and financially secure manner.\u00a0\u00a0This will also solve problems states face in regulating and taxing it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s well past time for Republicans to square the federal cannabis issue with their principles, quit following the big pharma line, and let states make the decisions on cannabis based upon the will of their citizens.<\/p>\n Yes, follow the tenth amendment of the Constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nevada Republicans suffered a significant setback in last month\u2019s elections, despite good efforts, and we need to revisit some issues.\u00a0\u00a0We won\u2019t change our principles, but it\u2019s time to square those principles with some changed facts on the ground. Let\u2019s start with marijuana. Consistent with Republican \u201cleave us alone\u201d principles that oppose federal micromanagement of people\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88897,"featured_media":40332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40331"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88897"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40333,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40331\/revisions\/40333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}