The Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association have announced they oppose Question 2 on the Nevada general election ballot this November.

The initiative seeks to legalize the commercial sale of marijuana in the state.

Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee said he attended a conference in April near Portland, Oregon in which the district attorney from Denver, Colorado “gave a presentation regarding all the issues just Colorado alone is having arising from the legalization of marijuana. All the states that have legalized recreational marijuana, and some of the Canadian provinces gave presentations, and each spoke of ongoing major problems.”

As reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in mid-August, Robert Roshak, Executive Director of the Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association, said passage of the marijuana industry-written initiative would destigmatize drug use and make it easier for young people to get their hands on a wide range of marijuana products… such as marijuana-infused “gummy bears, candy bars, and sodas; products with special appeal to children.”

Lee said, “If marketing is to be for any age, then why make it suckers, candy bars and gummy bears? Why not make it something that is tied to adults, not little kids.”

He said in addition, “We hear about all the accidental poisonings that are taking place now because of marijuana laced cookies and brownies and candies. We just see all the issues that are the results.”

At the meeting in April, Lee said the presenters did admit “there was an increase in tax dollars to the state, but all the other issues that are arising from legalized recreational marijuana basically negates everything about the higher tax revenues.”

Roshak also mentioned the “growing risk of organized crime and drug trafficking to Nevada, as well as the near-certain increase in impaired drivers and fatal car crashes.”

Lee disagrees with proponents of Question 2 who say it will get rid of the illegal marijuana grows. “No it won’t.
The states that do have legalized marijuana still have the illegal marijuana grows. It didn’t change anything. You don’t get rid of that stuff. There is still a demand for supply. It doesn’t say where the supply is going to come from. The legalized retailers don’t care where the supply comes from.”

Lee anticipates organized crime will also eventually get involved.

Lincoln County, over the past five or six years, has discovered and destroyed several large outdoor illegal marijuana grows in the mountains of the county.

County District Attorney Daniel Hooge said in early 2015 the state of Nevada ruled “that each individual county could decide for themselves if they would allow legalized marijuana to be grown in their county through zoning.”
County commissioners voted not to allow legalized marijuana grows.