September 14, 2017

"Nevada could become the first state to allow users of recreational marijuana to light up in clubs and lounges..."

"... a state legal body said this week, opening a new front in what is already a booming pot business," The Hill reports.
None of the four other states where marijuana is legal for recreational use — Washington, Colorado, Alaska and Oregon — currently allow so-called pot lounges. All four states restrict marijuana use to private residences. 
That doesn't work too well in a tourist destination. And you can't have the tourists smoking pot in hotel rooms and Airbnbs.
The Nevada legislator who spearheaded much of the legalization movement, state Sen. Tick Segerblom (D), has said... “We’re going to really market this thing around the world”...
Don't worry it's a nickname. His parents didn't name him Tick.

Remember our "tick flick"?



That was back in '09.

By the way, marijuana might help with Lyme disease.

33 comments:

JML said...

I have always though Las Vegas was a sh!t hole place. This would just just make it more so.

Original Mike said...

Jeff Session must be having a conniption.

Hagar said...

It is a front in the sedition movement.

Jupiter said...

"And you can't have the tourists smoking pot in hotel rooms and Airbnbs."

You ever read Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas?

Original Mike said...

Was in Colorado last month. It was really something to see the green cross signs along the interstate (indicating a marijuana store) sharing advertising poles with Shell and Wendy's.

rcocean said...

So if you can smoke tobacco you can light up your MJ.

The Casino's would LOVE to serve the gamblers - not only liquor - but free MJ.

Hey, here's your MJ brownie and a glass of white wine. Now, about that $100 bet want to make it $1000?

rcocean said...

Somehow I have feeling we're going to have a medical crisis - 10 years down the road - from this legalization.

But we'll have single payer then - so it'll be cool.

DavidD said...

Is Nevada going to allow impaired driving, too, then?

Original Mike said...

"Somehow I have feeling we're going to have a medical crisis - 10 years down the road - from this legalization."

Why? The stuff's been pervasive in our society for decades.

Lance said...

Until Congress repeals or SCOTUS invalidates federal narcotics laws, Nevada can't "allow" marijuana use anywhere.

Kate said...

Casinos already have sophisticated smoke-removal filtration systems installed for regular cigarettes. Adding MJ is a no-brainer for them. I'm just surprised it has happened already.

rcocean said...

"Why? The stuff's been pervasive in our society for decades."

Maybe in your town. Besides, there's a big difference between something being "available" but illegal, and a legal product that can be advertised.

Alcohol was "Pervasive" during prohibition, but alcohol consumption skyrocketed after Prohibition was repealed.

Sebastian said...

"Until Congress repeals or SCOTUS invalidates federal narcotics laws, Nevada can't "allow" marijuana use anywhere." Now that's funny. Laws, schmaws. This is the USA. We only pretend we have the rule of law.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

And you can't have the tourists smoking pot in hotel rooms and Airbnbs.

They can, do and will.

Casinos already have sophisticated smoke-removal filtration systems installed for regular cigarettes. Adding MJ is a no-brainer for them. I'm just surprised it has happened already.

Not that it does any good. Everywhere in Vegas smells like Uncle Louie's rumpus room.

J. Farmer said...

@rcocean:

Alcohol was "Pervasive" during prohibition, but alcohol consumption skyrocketed after Prohibition was repealed.

True. It's the Mark Kleiman argument, and he's ground zero for the radical centrist position. But perhaps legalized marijuana will become a substitute for alcohol from some subset of the drinking population. That would be a net plus, since the long-term personal and social consequences of drinking are much higher than for smoking marijuana. But, there's also a broken windows policing kind of issue with marijuana legalization. I don't know. It's a complicated problem. I am pretty much on the prohibitionist side but still see some of the thornier consequences.

Original Mike said...

"Maybe in your town."

That would be Madison.

donald said...

I cannot say this strongly enough, but what the fuck does any free born person care what any free born person does as long as it is not affecting them?

Anytime an adult's answer is anything other than they don't give a fuck what another free born person does as long as they are not harming another (addressing adults here), then that person has monfucking idea what our constitution is about.

We are free born. It means everything, and it has so very fucking little to do with drugs that to mention it is whiny bullshit.

If you think drugs (or prostitution, or gambling, or socialism) is bad, don't do it. Don't contribute to family members who are on the road to
This is America people.

donald said...

Road to damnation. Bleh.

Gahrie said...

It's a complicated problem. I am pretty much on the prohibitionist side but still see some of the thornier consequences.

Prohibition has never worked, ever.

Look at all of the harassment and opprobrium that tobacco smokers face in the US today, and yet every year thousands of people still start smoking tobacco.

China executed opium users and still failed to end the use of opium.

The consumption of fine wines and upmarket alcohol is now seen as a sign of sophistication.

Original Mike said...

Amen, donald.

Unknown said...

Does Nevada allow people to smoke cigarettes in bars and restaurants?

rcocean said...

"I cannot say this strongly enough, but what the fuck does any free born person care what any free born person does as long as it is not affecting them?"

Yeah, that's nice little libertarian nonsense. When you get rid of the welfare state, motor vehicles, and medicaid then give me a call.

Having large numbers of people high on MJ driving cars is a problem. And having them not working or using the health care system because of excessive MJ use results in a cost to ME. Because I have to pay taxes and drive.

Jupiter said...

"I don't know. It's a complicated problem. I am pretty much on the prohibitionist side but still see some of the thornier consequences."


Wait, *which* prohibitionist side are you on? Prohibiting marijuana? Alcohol? Sodomy? All have been prohibited in the recent past, for what seemed like valid health reasons.

Original Mike said...

The meddlers always have an excuse.

Bruce Hayden said...

"I have always though Las Vegas was a sh!t hole place. This would just just make it more so."

Agree, though I have stayed at some nice places. the "strip" (except actually walking on Las Vegas Blvd) is nice. But much of the rest of the downtown is pretty tawdry. You get routinely panhandled at the convenience stores off the Strip. And more Road Rage on the freeway than almost anywhere else I have been.

Still, we get there a couple times a year in the off season. Maybe 4 hours from our house in PHX (and on the way between there and here in MT). Really good prices for what you get.

"Does Nevada allow people to smoke cigarettes in bars and restaurants?"

Mostly, if I remember correctly. Even if a lot of Americans have quit, many of the Asian visitors smoke like chimneys. They are there to gamble, and gambling is what funds the city. They do have smoke free gaming areas, but not that big compared to the smoking (of tobacco) in the gaming area.

Bruce Hayden said...

What is going to be interesting to me is the licensing aspect. The law firm I was in had a big Govt Relations practice, and in NV, that meant gaming and liquor licenses. For downtown, a liquor license essentially requires hiring a good law firm (like ours) with a lot of political connections (no surprise - Harry Reids' sons work at the biggest law firms in the state, and the one that I knew did this sort of thing for much of his practice). I would expect that, ultimately, the casinos will try to get control of the pot lounges, through the regulatory apparatus (which they control, which is why gaming and liquor licenses are so hard to acquire).

Funny part of that latter is how powerful Mormons still are in NV, and esp in Las Vegas - even more than in Reno. The joke was that you didn't want to litigate big cases there without a Mormon sitting at the counsel table. Traditionally, they have provided a large percentage of the casino workers, which has always been amusing because the normal sins of Sin City are verboten for them.

Meade said...

"Remember our "tick flick"?

It's not an easy day to forget. I remember every detail. The German ticks wore gray, you wore blue.

Meade said...

We were young and so in love.

Meade said...

Well, relatively young.

J. Farmer said...

@Gahrie:

Prohibition has never worked, ever.

@Jupiter:

Wait, *which* prohibitionist side are you on?

Apologies. It was sloppy wording on my part. I meant that I am on the "prohibitionist side" as far as the broken windows component is concerned. I agree with that assessment. Ultimately, I am not in favor of drug criminalization. The notion of imprisoning someone (i.e. putting them in cages with sociopathic/psychopathic violent offenders) for possessing certain mind-altering substances will never sit well with me. So, I would be opposed against jailing people for possession or distribution, but, I would probably favor some kind of civil commitment where a person could be ordered to dependency treatment or have their right to possess substances restricted on the basis of certain social harms (e.g. repeated drug-related criminal behavior, failure to pay child support, etc.).

StephenFearby said...

AA wrote: By the way, marijuana might help with Lyme disease. With a link to sites that make this claim.

A search on Google Scholar:

"Lyme disease" marijuana OR cannabis

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22lyme+disease%22+marijuana+OR+cannabis&btnG=&hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33

...yields only about 1,780 hits compared to 699,000 without "Lyme disease".

The pages are ranked by pertinence. There was nothing pertinent in the first two pages of the "Lyme disease" search relating to a purported benefit for marijuana or cannabis.

The Google Web search yields a lot of anecdotal reports. If you're stoned on marijuana to address discomfort, you might not be bothered by it so much.

At least before you develop somthing worse.





donald said...

What's nonsense?

You do realize there are laws for driving under the influence right?

Nope. I'm right. You're wrong, you don't understand the concept of freedom and responsibility.

Sam L. said...

"Self-searching"? She'll be angry when she finds her real self.