This news just came in from NORML:
Nevada: Governor Authorizes Creation Of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries
Nevada: Governor Authorizes Creation Of Medical Cannabis DispensariesCarson City, NV: Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed legislation, Senate Bill 374, authorizing for the creation of up to 66 medical marijuana production and distribution facilities.
Under the new law, state regulators will oversee the creation of licensed establishments to produce, test, and dispense cannabis and cannabis-infused products to authorized patients. Nevada voters enacted a state constitutional amendment in 2000 mandating state lawmakers to allow for physicians to authorize qualified patients to consume and grow cannabis. However, that law did not provide for facilities where patients may obtain medicinal cannabis.
Approximately 3,800 Nevadans are presently authorized to grow and/or consume cannabis under state law.
Senate Bill 374 imposes limits on the home cultivation of cannabis if patients reside within 25-miles of an operating dispensary. However, patients who are cultivating specific strains of cannabis not provided by a local dispensary may continue to engage in the home cultivation of such strains. Patients who have an established history of cultivating medical cannabis prior to July 1, 2013, also may continue to do so until March 31, 2016.
The bill also amends possession limits from one-ounce to two and one-half ounces and increases plant cultivation limits from three mature plants to twelve.
Medical marijuana products dispensed by state-licensed facilities will be subject to standard state sales taxes as well as a 4 percent excise tax, of which 75 percent will be directed to education and 25 percent will be directed toward implementing and enforcing the regulations.
Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico, and Rhode Island have state-licensed medical cannabis dispensaries up and running. Similar dispensary outlets are in the process of opening in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Washington, DC.
For more information, please contact Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director, at (202) 483-5500 or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: [email protected].