Medical Marijuana Law Called Into Question

With all the pot busts this summer, it seems southern Nevada has a growing problem. Many are now questioning how the weed gets from the pot house to the medical marijuana co-operative. “There should be supervised grow houses,” said attorney Robert Draskovich. “They can either be done on the part of the state or who are regulated by the state.” State law makes it legal for people with medical needs to own the herb, but illegal to buy it.

“When the Legislature failed to follow the constitutional mandate, you had groups of people – medicinal marijuana needers – who created these co-ops in order to be able to share medicinal marijuana without breaking the law,” Draskovich said. Draskovich represented Sin City Co-Op owners in their criminal case. District Court Judge Donald Mosley dismissed the case Monday, saying the law was too vague and the grand jury didn’t see enough evidence to warrant an indictment. Friday, lawyers for six other defendants from another co-op – Jolly Green Meds – argued their clients weren’t breaking the law, because they weren’t growing or selling marijuana. The criminal indictment says otherwise.

“They have yet to make a connection, to my knowledge, between the grow houses and the dispensaries,” Draskovich said. He says he and other attorneys filed motions for the case to be dismissed on the same grounds as the Sin City Co-Op case. “Mosley was very clear on Monday. He stated the law was mind-boggling, and he couldn’t make heads or tales of it, said the law was void for vagueness,” Draskovich said. “Judge Smith was more concerned with the legitimacy of marijuana versus whether the dispensaries themselves were legal.”

Draskovich says he hopes the Legislature or Nevada Supreme Court can clarify how patients with medical marijuana needs can legally obtain it. No one from the District Attorney’s office or Metro Police was able to comment for this story.

Medical Marijuana Law Called Into Question, 10.0 out of 10 based on 2 ratings