A state senator says his constituents are so worried about a potential crackdown on recreational pot legalized in many states, including Nevada, that he will introduce a bill making it easier to purchase it.
In an interview with KNPR’s State of Nevada, Sen. Tick Segerblom, (D) - Las Vegas, was responding to a Trump Administration warning that it might try to do away with legalized recreational marijuana in the United States.
At the same time, the administration has said it has no problem with medical marijuana facilities.
Segerblom said his constituents are worried so he will introduce a bill that attempts to get around the potential crackdown by making it easier to get medical marijuana.
“We could turn our medical marijuana programs into virtually recreational, by reducing the requirements,” he said. “Instead of having a card (approved by a physician) you could show up and say, ‘I have a headache,’ and buy it.”
Segerblom is also introducing a bill that he said addresses climate change and its potential impact on the Colorado River system. The Colorado River feeds into Lake Mead, which provides most of the water for Las Vegas.
The senator blames climate change for the kind of rain and flooding that caused a dam in Oroville, California to nearly fail.
That has him worried about Glen Canyon Dam, which is up the Colorado River from Hoover Dam.
If that dam were to break, Segerblom said, it would create a wall of water 20 feet higher than the peak of Hoover Dam that would cascade over the dam for two weeks. It would ruin the hydro-electric power plant at the foot of Hoover Dam.
“Climate change can mean huge amounts of change and that’s what we’re worried about,” he said.
The bill would be a resolution by the Nevada Legislature requesting the National Academy of Sciences look at the impact of dismantling Glen Canyon Dam. It would all be part of a larger study to look at management of the Colorado River system.
“The truth is there is not enough water for both lakes," Segerblom said, "Lake Powell and Lake Mead cannot both be sustained based upon on what we know the water flow of the Colorado River is on an annual basis”
The river system for decades has been the responsibility of the Southern Nevada Water Authority; however, Segerblom said SNWA isn’t doing enough and has overestimated the water in the system.
Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas
