US snuffs pot fans’ plans to party on a tribal land
A federal prosecutor has snuffed out plans by pot fans to celebrate Nevada’s new recreational marijuana law by lighting up on an Indian reservation near Las Vegas. US Attorney Daniel Bogden took a hard line in a letter to organizers of a weekend cannabis festival, saying federal law applies and pot smokers could be prosecuted. Bogden wouldn’t comment Friday beyond referring to the Feb 16 letter he sent to the Moapa Band of Paiutes.
The warning from the top federal prosecutor in Nevada came while several US senators are airing concerns about the possibility of a Trump administration crackdown on marijuana use in states that have legalized pot for recreational or medicinal purposes. Sen Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada joined nine other Democrats and one Republican, Alaska Sen Lisa Murkowski, in signing a Thursday letter to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
US Sen Dean Heller, R-Nev, sent a similar letter to Sessions on Wednesday. Organizers of the High Times Cannabis Cup festival said there will still be music, T-shirts and souvenirs at the event at a Moapa Band of Paiutes festival site. But spokesman Joe Brezny said it will essentially be just a concert this year. “We’ve removed the marijuana,” he said. “There will be no smoking area, no edibles competition, no cannabis topicals or lotions.” Brezny said more than 10,000 tickets were sold this week for the two-day event Saturday and Sunday at a site about 35 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip. The concert is headlined by hip-hop artist Ludacris.
Robert Capecchi, federal policies chief at the Marijuana Policy Project advocacy group in Washington, DC, said a lot of attendees might be disappointed or upset that they can’t smoke on site. But he noted that laws are different in federal areas within the eight states that have legalized recreational marijuana and the 28 states and the District of Columbia where medical marijuana is legal. “There’s a different balance between the federal government and Indian tribes and the federal government and the states,” Capecchi said.—AP