The Carson City Planning Commission has delayed action on a request by Qualcan, a cannabis company based in Las Vegas, to open an additional retail marijuana outlet in Carson City. To the commission’s credit, the matter was tabled in anticipation that a delay might encourage additional public input. The matter will be reconsidered at the commission’s July 27 meeting.
For those of us who fought vigorously against the licensing of any recreational marijuana outlets, the very fact that this matter is back before the commission is disheartening.
In 2017, after some rather contentious hearings, the Board of Supervisors amended the municipal code to require that any retail pot establishment be co-located with the two existing medical marijuana dispensaries and confined to certain zoning districts as a way of restricting the retail growth of the industry in our city.
For those of us concerned about the impacts of the increased availability of pot in our community, this was a difficult but unavoidable compromise. We were comforted, however, by the fact that the sales of the drug would be constrained and, with any luck, the city could avoid many of the adverse impacts that the unbridled growth of the industry has had on other parts of the country. This is why the current action pending before the commission is such a disappointment.
While, as a businessperson I appreciate the importance of free enterprise, as a former elected official, I also understand the importance of honoring commitments to the people you serve and respecting the wisdom of your predecessors. It is bad public policy to amend a municipal ordinance simply to accommodate one applicant who wishes to change the rules.
In a recent nationwide study commissioned by the Drug Free America Foundation and Johnny’s Ambassadors, an organization offering education for teens on youth substance abuse, mental health and suicide prevention, it was determined, not surprisingly, that more young people are using pot and experiencing greater mental health issues in states with permissive marijuana laws. In parts of the country where recreational marijuana is fully legalized, monthly consumption is 47% higher among adolescents and 81% higher among young adults than in states where pot is illegal. The increased use of pot correlates closely with the rise in self-reported cases of major depressive episodes, mental illness, and suicidal thoughts.
Ironically, one of the objectives of the Initiative to Regulate and Tax Marijuana in the state of Nevada included “Requirements to prevent the … diversion of marijuana and marijuana products to persons under 21 years of age.”
As a testament to how well these requirements are working, the Carson City Sheriff’s Office was forced to purchase a second drug sniffing dog specifically for ferreting out pot in our local schools. According to Sheriff Furlong, the use of pot by kids in our community is “very high.”
While I suspect that not all of the marijuana being provided to our local youth, by careless or irresponsible third parties, is purchased at existing pot shops, the very fact that we are even considering the licensing of another retail outlet to further saturate the market and increase the risk to our children astonishes me.
As a city we have always prided ourselves on our quality of life. Let’s not sacrifice the welfare of our kids and the safety of our community simply because of an unwillingness to say “enough is enough.”
Shelly Aldean in a Carson City resident.
