| The Weed Blog |
With the number of Nevada residents authorized to use medical marijuana now at 3,430, Assemblyman Tick Segerblom (D-Las Vegas) wants to change how marijuana is distributed in The Silver State. Last week Segerblom announced he will introduce a bill next year to license medical marijuana dispensaries and farms to provide cannabis to patients.
Under Segerblom’s plan, the state would tax marijuana sales to patients, reports Ed Vogel at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Nevada’s Health Division reported on Monday that the number of patients with medical marijuana authorizations has climbed by 1,143 in the past year.
Nevada medical marijuana patients currently have to grow their own, even though there is no legal way to even acquire seeds, and of course many of them aren’t good gardeners, or are too sick to cultivate. Authorized patients may possess up to an ounce of marijuana and three mature and four immature cannabis plants.
Patients must get permission from a doctor to use cannabis for medicinal purposes; most of Nevada’s medical marijuana patients list pain as the qualifying condition. In all, 394 physicians in the state have given patients permission to use marijuana, disproving the argument that just a few doctors are writing all the recommendations.
Nevada legislators approved medical marijuana after residents on two occasions overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments allowing it. Voters have on two occasions rejected ballot questions that would have legalized the use of marijuana by all adults, not just for medical reasons.
Residents can get more information about Nevada’s medical marijuana program by visiting the medical marijuana section of the Health Division’s website: http://health.nv.gov/MedicalMarijuana.htm.