ACLU of Nevada to Argue Cannabis Case Before State Supreme Court on Tuesday

LAS VEGAS — The ACLU of Nevada will appear before the Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday in Las Vegas to defend a District Court ruling finding the state cannot classify cannabis as a Schedule I Controlled Substance.

ACLU of Nevada attorneys will present oral arguments to an en banc panel of the Nevada Supreme Court at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Las Vegas.

The case is Nevada Board of Pharmacy v. CEIC, case No. 85756.

The appeal hearing comes more than a year after Clark County District Court Judge Joe Hardy ruled the Pharmacy Board’s designation of cannabis as a Schedule I Controlled Substance was unconstitutional.

In 2022, the ACLU of Nevada argued that the Pharmacy Board violated the state Constitution by including cannabis in the state’s list of Schedule I Controlled Substances, the most severe classification for drugs that have no medical value and can’t be safely distributed under medical supervision. Voters previously enshrined medical cannabis in the Nevada Constitution, including a number of explicit conditions that are appropriate for treatment with cannabis, more than two decades before the ruling, preempting the authority of the state to continue to classify cannabis in such a fashion.

The ACLU also argued successfully that the State Pharmacy Board has no authority to schedule cannabis anymore because the Legislature gave that authority to the Cannabis Control Board. The lower court ruling has been stayed while the appeal proceeds.

Cannabis Equity and Inclusion Community (CEIC) is a nonprofit organization focused on civic engagement and policies that will increase opportunities for communities and people who have been disenfranchised by the failed War on Drugs. Antoine Poole was personally impacted by such and charged under the scheduling status at issue here.