Less than a year after it was legalized, then banned again medical marijuana could becoming to West Wendover and the rest of Nevada.
Hidden deep inside a federal spending bill passed last weekend Congress effectively changed federal law regarding medical marijuana.
Under the provision, states where medical pot is legal would no longer need to worry about federal drug agents raiding retail operations. Agents would be prohibited from doing so.
The Obama administration has largely followed that rule since last year as a matter of policy. But the measure approved as part of the spending bill, which President Obama plans to sign this week, will codify it as a matter of law.
Pot advocates had lobbied Congress to embrace the administration’s policy, which they warned was vulnerable to revision under a less tolerant future administration.
More important, from the standpoint of activists, Congress’ action marked the emergence of a new alliance in marijuana politics: Republicans are taking a prominent role in backing states’ right to allow use of a drug the federal government still officially classifies as more dangerous than cocaine.
The change is especially important to Nevada which has had a bizarre on again off again relationship with pot going back 30 years.
Last April and over 13 years since the sale medical marijuana was first approved by Nevada voters buying and selling medical marijuana will legal at least by state law in various dispensaries in the Silver State.
However a month later West Wendover and a bevy of other city councils across the state voted to ban dispensaries as long as federal law prohibited marijuana, medical or recreational.
This weeks change by Congress may have changed everything.
32 states including Nevada have legalized pot or its ingredients to treat ailments, a movement that began in the 1990s. Even back then, some states had been approving broader decriminalization measures for two decades.
The medical marijuana movement has picked up considerable momentum in recent years. The Drug Enforcement Administration, however, continues to place marijuana in the most dangerous category of narcotics, with no accepted medical use.
The new marijuana measure forbids the federal government from using any of its resources to impede state medical marijuana laws. It was previously rejected half a dozen times. When Washington, D.C., voters approved medical marijuana in 1998, Congress used its authority over the city’s affairs to block the law from taking effect for 11 years.
Approval of the pot measure comes after the Obama administration directed federal prosecutors last year to stop enforcing drug laws that contradict state marijuana policies. Since then, federal raids of marijuana merchants and growers who are operating legally in their states have been limited to those accused of other violations, such as money laundering.
Wendover could be uniquely suited to an up and coming marijuana entrepreneur. Located just 120 miles from Salt Lake City, wendover has long made a living on offering what simply cant be had in Mormon dominated Utah such as casino gambling and relatively cheap alcohol and cigarettes.
With the chances of medical marijuana coming to Utah about as good as the state adopting a lottery a dispensary in Wendover might have a better than even chance of making a profit.
There is however some competition being offered on the other side of Utah in Colorado which recently legalized marijuana not just for those with a note from their doctors but for everyone.
Competition could also come down south from Mesquite Wendover’s perennial rival for the Utah tourist dollar. Located in the much more liberal Clark County a medical pot business in Mesquite might have a far easier time opening than in Elko County.
