District judge wary of legal recreational marijuana

In November, state voters passed Question 2, allowing adults 21 and older to recreationally use marijuana in their homes without fear of arrest and incarceration.

As a result, the action will allow courts and the judicial system to focus on more serious crimes. However, it remains unclear when and where residents can actually purchase the product.

Judge Robert Lane, a Nye County Fifth District Court judge, has concerns about recreational marijuana.

Lane said though he disagrees with the new law, he will certainly abide by it.

Lane, who started Nye County’s drug court roughly 15 years ago, said on a personal level he believes people should not smoke or get high.

“I think people should be the best they can be and not get high and drink or cheat on their spouses, but be the best person they can be,” he said. “Based on my experience as a prosecutor and a judge, along with the drug court I started around 15 years ago, based on the totality of everything, I think it is a mistake because I think in the long run, there are going to be negative ramifications that come from legalizing pot, but I will follow the law.”

Additionally, Lane admitted the passage of the law will allow law enforcement resources to concentrate their efforts on major crimes and criminal activity throughout the community.

“I have to say that statistically, the legalization of marijuana would free up resources for law enforcement and the judicial system to focus on more serious crimes,” he said. “When you look at the totality of the situation, the addicts are still going to be addicts. They will still be breaking into the storage shed next door to get money for their drugs. They used to get charged with smoking pot and now that charge will go away but I think they will go on to other things.”

Lane also spoke about the parallels between the passage of Question 2 and the end of prohibition, when it became legal for Americans of legal age to consume alcohol.

“You can say the same thing back in the days about legalizing alcohol,” he said. “Prohibition made it illegal for a while because it had negative ramifications, which are the DUI’s with death, families broken up because the dads were alcoholics.”

After Lane became a practicing Mormon he said he was never tempted to smoke or drink.

He did admit however, he was amused by the lure of the drug culture while growing up in Las Vegas back in the 60’s and 70’s.

Interestingly, Lane said he and his friends were avid listeners to the comedy duo of Cheech and Chong.

“My friends were all into pot smoking so I grew up around that culture but I never did partake,” Lane said. “When I was 16, there was a girl in the neighborhood that I liked. She was with my sister and they were smoking a joint. I walked up to them and asked for a puff. They busted up laughing because it’s not called a puff. They said it’s called a hit or toke.”

During another occasion, Lane recalled a visit from his cousin from back east who brought along a large amount of marijuana to share.

He noted that back in those days he and his friends would cruise up and down the Strip and Fremont Street in search of female companionship.

“Some girls jumped in the car and we were driving around,” he said. “They asked if we had any pot and my cousin pulled a lid out of his sock.”

A lid was the common term for an ounce of marijuana.

“They started passing a joint around and I was driving,” he said. “I didn’t take a hit, but rather blew into it to make the cherry glow red, then I passed it along. Decades later I had to laugh when Bill Clinton said he smoked but never inhaled. I thought to myself, I never inhaled either.”

After implementing the drug court program more than a decade ago, Lane said it has proved to be one of the most effective drug deterrents in existence.

“I would say it has to be one of the most successful programs in the United States, even more so than the Betty Ford clinics,” he said. “For a minimum of a year you have a judge watching over you every week and that’s a big motivator to stay clean. They have to stay clean for a year in order to graduate from the program. I saw statistics on it and I truly believe that the drug court works better than most other programs available as far as getting people clean and keeping them clean.”

Lane was not always a proponent of drug court. When he was a prosecutor in Tonopah years ago, he had a different impression on how to deal with drug abusers coming before him.

“The defense attorneys would come in front of me and Judge Davis arguing for drug court,” he said. “Judge Davis would ask me what I thought, and I told him that they broke the law, they knew they shouldn’t have done it and they should go to jail or prison.”

After some time, Lane said he came to the realization that drug court can be an effective tool for those needing help to break their drug habit.

“When I became a judge they sent me up to the Judicial College in Reno where I took a class on drug court,” he said. “They taught us a lot of things that I didn’t know at the time.”

Additionally, Lane noted that for some, drug court is not a cure-all.

“The great emphasis is not to relapse, but some do,” he said. “Some relapse a year later and some relapse five years later. I’ve seen some relapse a week later by celebrating their graduation from drug court.”

Lane, who said he’s had family members who were addicts, came to the realization that drug abuse and alcoholism is in fact, a disease, and should be treated as such.

“Like most people, I never understood that,” he said. “It’s not a germ that you catch and you have no control over it, but I was thinking that you can control whether you drink or use drugs. I later learned that you can quit drinking alcohol or doing drugs, but you will be fighting it for the rest of your life. That’s when I came to the realization that alcoholism and drug abuse is a disease.”

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes