State leaders, law enforcement and representatives from the state’s medical marijuana industry are working to create a set of recommendations on how to best regulate recreational marijuana.
When Governor Brian Sandoval gave his State of the State address in January, he outlined his plans to create a task force that will delve into the tough questions surrounding legalized marijuana.
The new rules governing recreational pot will likely be heavily based on the state’s regulation of the medical marijuana industry.
“This is a good opportunity to evaluate, look into what’s been going on in the medical, look into what’s been working, maybe what hasn’t been working,” says task force chair DeonneContine, Director of the State Department of Taxation. “What we like to change and what we’d like to borrow as we move forward with retail operations.”
Another issue facing the working group is how police will handle recreational marijuana use.
“What we see over [in Denver] is some increase in some DUIs and some social problems such as accidental overdoses, child exposures, that sort of thing,” says Reno Deputy Chief of Police Tom Robinson. “So, obviously, we’re apprehensive and we want to do everything we can to make sure this is a safe industry to the extent that it can be.”
In recent weeks, federal law enforcement officials have been threatening a crackdown in states that have passed such laws. Congressional leaders have been asking those officials to leave regulating marijuana up to the states.
