How to Safely Purchase, Possess and Transport Medical Marijuana in Nevada. Under Nevada law, a patient must ensure that usable marijuana and marijuana plants are safeguarded in an enclosed, secure location.
A Medical Marijuana Crash Course: How to Safely Purchase, Possess and Transport Marijuana.
Are you new to the world of medical marijuana? While marijuana is not new, the laws that permit medical marijuana to be prescribed as medicine are fairly recent. As a new medical marijuana patient, it’s common to have questions about the law and your rights under it. While each aspect of the law could easily inspire its own article, if you’re interested in a basic crash course on how to purchase, possess, store and transport medical marijuana, read on for some helpful tips.
Patients Rights to Purchase and Possess
Once a Nevada patient has obtained a registry identification card (also known as a “patient card”), they can legally purchase marijuana from a medical marijuana dispensary. A patient with a valid card is able to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana per two-week period. Luckily, your dispensary will keep track of your purchases and amounts for you.
A patient who is interested in purchasing edible marijuana or infused products may purchase up to the equivalent of 2.5 ounces of marijuana, which is also tracked by your dispensary to ensure that you do not purchase over the legal limit. A patient may also possess up to 12 plants, regardless of whether they are mature or immature.
As a patient, you may possess, transport, deliver, or assist another patient in any of the above acts. Just remember, patients may not consume medical marijuana on the premises of a dispensary. It’s also important to note that patients may not grow their own marijuana unless they meet certain exceptions under Nevada law.
New Patient Tips:
- Do not grow your own marijuana unless you qualify for one of the clearly defined exceptions under Nevada law.
- Do not make marijuana products using a method that involves butane or explosives.
- Keep your marijuana and marijuana products in discreet packaging and out of the view of the public.
Storing Marijuana:
Under Nevada law, a patient must ensure that usable marijuana and marijuana plants are safeguarded in an enclosed, secure location.
There is no specific law in Nevada that requires patients with children to keep medicine locked away, but to be on the safe side, parents should purchase devices specifically designed to keep medicine away from children. In any event, parents should ensure that children do not access any amount of medical marijuana in any form.
New Patient Tip:
- Lock up marijuana and products that contain marijuana so that they cannot be accessed by children.
Driving Under the Influence
DUI laws apply to patients the same way they do to non-patients. Medical marijuana is treated like alcohol in Nevada, as opposed to being treated as a prescription drug, with regards to DUI. For example, if a person is found to have more than a certain amount of marijuana in their system, they can be found guilty of DUI, whether or not the person was actually impaired. Below are the “per se” limits; any amount of marijuana detected in a driver’s system, within two hours of driving, that is over the limits below, constitutes DUI.
- A marijuana concentration of two nanograms per milliliter of blood or more
- A marijuana metabolite concentration of five nanograms per milliliter of blood
Especially important to remember is that while a driver could be under the limits above, if they are considered “impaired,” they will also will be considered guilty of DUI. There are various ways law enforcement officials determine whether or not someone is considered to be “impaired,” some of which may include field sobriety tests.
New Patient Tips:
- Do not consume marijuana in your car. If you are detected by law enforcement, you will most likely be arrested for DUI as a person “in physical control of a vehicle.”
- Do not consent to a search of your person or vehicle. If a police officer asks to search you or your vehicle, politely state, “I do not consent to a search.”
By: Riana Durrett, Esq.
Executive Director
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