Odessa

BY SANDRA CHEREB
RENO, Nev. -- Gambling, prostitution, and now pot? Organizers of a Nevada ballot measure hope voters in a state where almost everything goes will go one better and legalize marijuana.

If it passes Nov. 7, Nevada will be the first state to allow adults to possess up to an ounce of pot that they could buy at government-regulated marijuana shops.

The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, which has pushed medical marijuana and decriminalization laws around the country, thinks Nevada -- with its embrace of certain vices and its streak of Western independence -- is a perfect venue.

Opponents include law enforcement, the nation's drug czar, and civic and business groups. AP

One can only hope. You know this is going to make for an interesting federal vs. state rights discussion since:

Federal Controlled Substances Act of 1990 which puts marijuana in the first schedule along with things like heroin, MDMA and LSD. From the FDA:
(1.) Schedule I. -
(A.) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B.) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C.) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

I hope Nevada wins this one. Although my pot smoking days are far behind me, I think Draconian drug laws need to be challenged and repealed, particularly for something that is a plant product that requires little processing.

Furthermore, I personally have little respect for the FDA. In my opinion they are too far into the pockets of drug companies. If it can't be patented, then they consider it useless or unsafe. There are medical uses for marijuana. The FDA's claims there is a lack of research, which is crap. There is research available. The Europeans, particularly the Germans, have embraced herbal remedies and have a significant amount of research. The FDA's ban of ephedra was similarly short-sighted and has crippled herbalists and practiciners of Chinese medicine. I have a similarly dim view of most doctors and the whole notion of "medical supervision". Some of us have done research and understand the pro's and con's.

Hemp (of which marijuana is part of the same plant family) grows wild all over the US. Hemp is still a viable crop in Canada and any seeds they provide to the US market have to be rendered sterile. Part of the original reason marijuana and hemp were outlawed were to placate cotton farmers, since hemp fibers can be used to make cloth. Because of our country's paranoia over drugs, hemp can not be grown in this country because of it close kinship to marijuana, although hemp has little TSH. Now that is stupid.