Nevada Bill Could Remove Marijuana From Controlled Substances & Strip Pharmacy Board's Control Over It

New legislation in Nevada seeks to remove the status of cannabis as a "controlled substance" and strip the Nevada Board of Pharmacy of authority over the plant and its derivatives.

Assemblyman Reuben D'Silva said that under the proposed bill, the Cannabis Compliance Board would have oversight over marijuana, reported Fox 5 Vegas.

"We don't need to have several levels of regulation on a substance now that we know is part and parcel of our community and part and parcel of our economy," D'Silva said. "In the end, this is a burdensome regulation, and we need to remove the Nevada Board of Pharmacy statutorily now from having oversight over cannabis products and cannabis derivatives."

Interestingly, in October a Nevada judge stripped the Board of Pharmacy of the ability to regulate cannabis on the heels of months-long litigation over its Scheduled 1 drug designation in the state.

The final ruling by Judge Joe Hardy came weeks after a Clark County District Court judge weighed in on a closely-followed lawsuit filed against the Nevada Board of Pharmacy by the American Civil Liberties Union determining that the listing of cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug is against the state's constitution.

The judge said that the board had "acted outside of its authority when it failed to remove cannabis from the list of Schedule I substances" even though voters amended the state constitution to legalize medical marijuana.

Nevada legalized medical marijuana use in 2000, followed by another ballot in 2017 that legalized recreational cannabis sale and use.

"If the [pharmacy] board designates a substance as a 'controlled substance,' but the designation falls outside the authority delegated by the ​​Legislature, the designation is invalid," according to the ruling.

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