Nevada legalizes recreational marijuana

[MacGlenver]

Now that Nevada has legalized recreational marijuana, what effect might we expect on drug-dog searches from non-federal law enforcement? Clearly this doesn't affect federal law enforcement, but my impression was that most of the dog activity was from local enforcement.

I know that in the past, police have used the smell of marijuana as probable cause for car searches. How will this change as a result of legalization?

Should their dogs no longer be trained to key off of marijuana smells? How will dogs that are already trained on the smell of marijuana and other substances be able to cease keying off of one and not the others? Are these sniff tests still valid if dogs might react to a legal substance? Is there now a significant decrease in the likelihood of these type of law enforcement interactions?

This would seem to be a significant blow to the police's available pathways to car/tent searches.

I suppose one could say that local law enforcement is bound to enforce federal laws as well, and could carry on as usual with searches, but in the case where there is a disagreement in state/federal I would assume they're required to respect the state law above the federal law, no?

[Sham]

My own personal take on this is that while it's still illegal to have marijuana on federal land in Nevada, it would start to become more mainstream. A fine or even court action would hopefully be dealt with leniently.
As more states legalize recreational marijuana, it will become much less of an issue with all law enforcement.
In 2017, I would NOT recommend testing this theory on the playa.

[BBadger]

Federal law always trumps (lowercase "t") state laws; however, states are not obligated to enforce such laws they deem unconstitutional. They can also not interfere with federal enforcement, nor does legality in the state's jurisdiction protect an individual from prosecution under federal law (i.e. legal marijuana laws can't protect you from federal bans on marijuana use).

So we should expect that if federal authorities at BM attempt to search for marijuana to prosecute for possession, that the state laws will provide no protections. However, state law enforcement is not required to assist in such federal law enforcement of the marijuana ban.

I also suspect that the smell of marijuana might still be used for probable cause. In Arizona, for example, a high-court judge ruled that the smell of weed could still be grounds for probable cause even if some citizens could legally use it. In that case, however, there was no recreational marijuana allowed in that jurisdiction, only medical, so it may be different.

I also don't know if local authorities will still attempt to use the excuse of smelling marijuana to, for example, determine whether the user is above possession limits (1oz weed, or 1/8th oz concentrate).

[Popeye]

Now that Nevada has legalized recreational marijuana, what effect might we expect on drug-dog searches from non-federal law enforcement? Clearly this doesn't affect federal law enforcement, but my impression was that most of the dog activity was from local enforcement.

I know that in the past, police have used the smell of marijuana as probable cause for car searches. How will this change as a result of legalization?

Should their dogs no longer be trained to key off of marijuana smells? How will dogs that are already trained on the smell of marijuana and other substances be able to cease keying off of one and not the others? Are these sniff tests still valid if dogs might react to a legal substance? Is there now a significant decrease in the likelihood of these type of law enforcement interactions?

This would seem to be a significant blow to the police's available pathways to car/tent searches.

I suppose one could say that local law enforcement is bound to enforce federal laws as well, and could carry on as usual with searches, but in the case where there is a disagreement in state/federal I would assume they're required to respect the state law above the federal law, no?

In 1975 and for a few years after, when personal use became legal in Alaska, the state and local cops stopped cooperating with the feds for marijuana "crimes". This slowly changed over the years for farms and large weights. I think it will be similar in Nevada, as long as there is no incentive for Nevada cops to make a bust -cases thrown out of court- they will stop caring.
The feds have a memo from the attorney general that said that feds will not enforce any laws directed against small amounts. How this will change under Trump is anyones guess. https://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resourc ... 857467.pdf
I believe marijuana arrests on playa where done by local cops. Feds might have been there but did not prosecute.

[lucky420]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Happy daze

[Leap]

Does a possession ticket issued by a BLM agent end up in state court?

[Popeye]

Does a possession ticket issued by a BLM agent end up in state court?

Feds can only arrest for federal crimes which are tried in federal courts. They can and do back up local cops but don't make arrests for violations of local laws. However if they see a crime taking place they can hold you for the locals.
They are discussing this over on redditt and someone pointed out that federal park rangers are issuing citations for smoking pot on federal land in Oregon.

[Traveller in Time]

Think I see a point for Fly Ranch

[Simon of the Playa]

"Think I see a point for Fly Ranch"

1478816098196.jpeg

[GreyCoyote]

There is a serious practical problem for the feds: a jury trial. The pool of jurors would be from Nevada, and a good defense lawyer could likely get away with jury nullification. Yes, the judge would have puppies, but thats what federal judges do best (when they are not breaking the law themselves).

The basic argument to the jury is this: "if this case was tried just down the block at the state courthouse, this defendant would not be here. The judge would have dismissed the case as a matter of law. But here you sit, in a court just a few hundred yards away. And here, the US Gooberment wants you to condemn this man to a long prison term for a "crime" that the People of this state say IS NOT A CRIME. You could leave this courtroom, light-up a joint, and blow the smoke into this judges face with complete impunity. Yet here we sit. In judgment. I do not envy you this task, but I will leave you with this sobering thought: You are being asked to ignore the expressed and lawful will of your peers, and the rules of common sense, and the rule of law in this State. You are being asked to be a tool for injustice, manipulated by Federalists, against a citizen of this State. Good luck with that during your deliberations..."

[TT120]

If you think the feds are going to give up their marijuana citation cash cow, think again. It is still federal land and the feds say it is a felony. They are going to insist the state and county cops help them bust as many people as they can. Federal law supersedes state law every time. It's not the cops job to prosecute you, they just write the citation and take your stash for themselves. They don't care if the citation was issued legally or not, that's not their job and they don't care if it holds up in court. They know most people are just going to pay the fine and be done with it instead of coming all the way back out to bum fuck Nevada to fight it.

It's still illegal to drive under the influence and it still gives them the right to search your shit and hope to find (or plant) other drugs. Crossing state lines with drugs is also still illegal.

[GreyCoyote]

By the time they write the citation, docket the case, send the notices, schedule the first hearing, have the file reviewed by a prosecutor, etc, they are not making a great profit margin. The smart thing would be to levy a federal tax on it and legalize it. Passive income for the feds! But like you, I dont think its gonna happen any time soon.

[BBadger]

The DEA has recently allowed some medical research to proceed concerning cannabis. It's actually a pretty big step because, normally, anything classified as Schedule 1 is not even allowed to be researched at all. It's the primary reason I believe Schedule 1 should be eliminated altogether, as no chemical should have permanent exile (but that's a whole 'nother topic).

Rumor is that the DEA is allowing such research because it's not willing to simply lift the ban for "My bad. We didn't acknowledge the existing research proving us wrong"-type reasons. Rather, some "new", compelling research needs to show that "oh wow, new research shows that this drug does have a medical use!". Then the DEA can reschedule without losing face.

Personally, I think the DEA should be disbanded and their authority transferred to the FDA, where at least these chemicals can be studied by actual scientists.

[Popeye]

The feds can't simply legalize marijuana because the illegality is part of treaty obligations, many of which the US gov. insisted on. They need to back out of the treatys first. https://www.google.com/search?q=treaty%2Bmarijuana
Course they don't want to admit to a mistake either.

[BBadger]

Well we better get the process rolling!

[Meat Hunter]

If I am not mistaken, there is one (possibly more now) location(s) in the U.S. where Marijuana is grown and researched that is 100% Federally approved and funded - The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS.

The first article states that the program began in 1995. However, the U.S. Government began the sanctioned growing and research program in 1968 when I was attending school there.

http://pharmacy.olemiss.edu/ncnpr/resea ... s-research

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/univ ... ch-project

It is my understanding. This is where to government obtained their Marijuana for the now defunct program where they sent sealed cans of 100-200? pre-rolled Marijuana cigarettes to a select number of individuals who had medical problems. If my memory serve me correct, this program ran from ~1970+- to sometime in the 1980-90's. As these individuals aged and died from natural causes, the allotment continued to be sent to the remaining original participants. I am sure that there is someone around who is more familiar with this program than I.

=======================

I found a link to the Federal Marijuana Cigarette program. It was begun in the 1960's and continues to this day for those in the original program.

https://cannabistraininginstitute.com/n ... ississippi

[BBadger]

Interesting stuff! I looked it up and it was the Federal Compassionate Investigational New Drug (Compassionate IND) program, brought on by a settlement to some lawsuits in 1976. They stopped accepting patients in 1992 because health authorities found no scientific value in it, and because of Bush Senior anti-drug push. There are still four in the program.

[Meat Hunter]

You can just imagine how us long haired hippy flower children back to the earth subsistence living advocating twenty something Ol' Miss students reacted when we found out that marijuana was being grown on that 12 acres and not very far from where we stood.

Although I could see it from a distance, I never visited the planting site. But, it was my understanding that the fencing was pretty good and it was well guarded.

One has to remember now that this was the time that Haight - Ashbury was in full swing and many of us were running around with flowers in our hair and loving all around -- Except when we were sitting in trees and protesting the war in Viet Nam.

I did give serious consideration changing my major from anthropology to pharmacology. Some folks did change majors and they always seemed to be a bit "happier" than I was.

[BBadger]

Love what you do. Do what you love.

[illy dilly]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Happy daze

COOOKIEESSSS

[Perpetual Burn]

I got pulled over coming into BRC last year because a break light was out... they found our nugs in the front truck, then wanted to search the 5th wheel... I told them I didn't know the code to the lock (I did, it was 123 lolz) so they just wrote me a ticket for marijuana possession and stole my nugs... but I avoided the 5 felonies in the 5th wheel lolz...

But as a Califuonia with a MMJ recomendatation from my Doctor Nevada had a drop the charges since Nevada has interstate reciprocity...

But the "legalization" has probably changed things... hopefully that they'll give less fucks about people with flowers... but I'd recommend studying further...

But even on BLM land, it came down to local legislation and they didn't give a fuck...

But as pretentious President of Black Rock Nation, I say do whatever the fuck you want!

[lucky420]

Keep your shit on the down low and make sure all the lights on the vehicle work, don't obstruct the lic plate and for fucks sake stay under the speed limit...

[Token]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40586480

Massive MJ shortage in Nevada. Dispensaries are almost sold out!



And back a heavy bag.

[The Rod]

FWIW, LEO's cannot legally enter or search your home without a warrant or consent. Campers, RV's and motorhomes are considered an extension of your home in the legal system.

Moral of the story: do not let the pigs into your camper/RV/motorhome unless they have a warrant.

[Token]

FWIW, LEO's cannot legally enter or search your home without a warrant or consent. Campers, RV's and motorhomes are considered an extension of your home in the legal system.

Moral of the story: do not let the pigs into your camper/RV/motorhome unless they have a warrant.

Tent too.

And an open door, window, "any visible stuff from a public place", and "I could smell it" ... Are all probable cause.

So, burn allot of sage. That for sure keeps the LEO away, for sure. Guaranteed or your money back on this free advice.

[Eric]

Reminder: Burning Man takes place on Federal land. The Federal Gov't does not recognize medical marijuana, and really doesn't recognize recreational. Discussing ways to avoid discovery are not allowed on ePlaya, and LEOs read this site.

Drug use is a Federal crime - even pot - and the current administration has both a president & an Attorney General who have a 1980's "War on Drugs" mentality. The LEOs have been getting more agressive the last few years, expect this year to be a doozy. The "stupid tax" will be in full effect.

[Simon of the Playa]

1502027540414.jpeg

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrat ... e-study-no#

[PhxSunStroke]

FWIW, those of us with medical cards from other states have the additional advantage that Nevada's medical law includes reciprocity.

[trilobyte]

Burning Man still takes place on federal land, and no state's medical laws are honored there.

[Traveller in Time]

It seems Nipton is becoming private property just for that reason.