Las Vegas Criminal Defense Blog

The Marijuana Policy Project of Nevada, whose mission is to reform the harsh marijuana laws in Nevada, announced today that they will give $10,000 to any state resident who can demonstrate that alcohol is safer than marijuana. Specifically, contestants have to disprove the following three statements using peer-reviewed papers and government studies as proof:

1. Alcohol is significantly more toxic than marijuana, making death by overdose far more likely with alcohol.


2. The health effects from long-term alcohol consumption cause tens of thousands of more deaths in the U.S. annually than the health effects from the long-term consumption of marijuana.


3. Violent crime committed by individuals intoxicated by alcohol is far more prevalent in the U.S. than violent crime committed by individuals intoxicated by marijuana only.

Continue reading "Marijuana Policy Project to Give $10,000 to Anyone Who Proves Alcohol is Safer than Marijuana" »

Marijuana Trafficking Rises in Las Vegas as Marijuana Policy Project Moves into Town

The word “trafficking” is commonly used to refer to all kinds of drug transportation crimes. But in Nevada, NRS 453.339 defines trafficking of marijuana as any use of the marijuana, from simple possession to selling, as long as the marijuana weighs one hundred pounds or more. So, for example, while smoking a joint on a Reno street corner may land you a possession charge, storing one hundred pounds of pot in your home may lead to an arrest for Reno trafficking. This crime is specifically targeted at big-time drug lords who deal with large quantities of weed.

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, marijuana trafficking is only getting more rampant in Clark County. The number of indoor cannabis cultivation operations that have been seized by Nevada state police has increased from 15 in 2005 to 38 just two years ago. Indeed, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the number of individual marijuana plants seized by the police grew from 953 plants in 2005 to nearly six thousand in 2007.

Interestingly, many of the people who are trafficking pot in Las Vegas attempt to do so under the guise of medical marijuana laws. However, the Nevada State Division of Health permits cardholding medical marijuana users to grow only three mature plants at a time, and traffickers cultivate far more than that. According to Nevada criminal defense attorney Michael Becker, "Unusually high electricity bills often give police a tip-off that an otherwise normal looking house may in fact be a front for an underground marijuana lab."

With marijuana trafficking on the rise in Nevada, it is perhaps ironic that the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) just opened a new chapter in Las Vegas. Among the MPP’s goals is to overturn NRS 453.321, which criminalizes selling marijuana in Las Vegas and growing marijuana in Las Vegas.

Currently, selling weed in Clark County is a criminal felony that may carry one to six years of imprisonment. And if Senate Bill 262 passes in the state legislature, card-holding Nevada medical marijuana users may be imprisoned merely for cultivating marijuana in Nevada beyond the seven-plant maximum. Although the MPP is new to Nevada, it’s hopeful that it may one day achieve its goal of decriminalizing pot use altogether: On Election Day in 2006, a ballot measure to eliminate marijuana prohibition was approved by a record-breaking 44% of voting Nevadans.

To contact the new Nevada chapter of the MPP, you can write them at:
MARIJUANA POLICY PROJECT OF NEVADA
P.O. BOX 82333
LAS VEGAS, NV 89180

Or else visit their website and contact them through their online form.