Nevada Bill To Make It So Past Marijuana Convictions Don’t Disqualify People From Being Foster Parents Heads To Governor’s Desk

Nevada lawmakers have sent a bill to the governor that would remove a restriction currently preventing people from being foster parents, or being employed by a foster care home, if they have a marijuana possession conviction on their record from more than five years ago.

While Nevada voters legalized cannabis for adult-use at the ballot in 2016, state law currently makes it so adults with convictions for controlled substances, including marijuana, are prohibited from owning, working at or residing at a foster home. The legislation from Assemblymember Tracy Brown-May (D), AB107, would address that.

The measure—which unanimously passed the Assembly last month and cleared the Senate last week in a 19-2 vote—would amend existing statue to carve out an exemption for foster parents and workers who were convicted of low-level cannabis possession at the state or local level “within the immediately preceding five years” of seeking a license. Convictions for selling cannabis would not be exempt from the restriction.

Currently, regulators are able to suspend or revoke a foster care license if a background check, which must be conducted every five years, shows a prior cannabis record.

“This bill thereby authorizes a person who has been convicted of any such violation to operate, be employed by, reside in or be present in a foster home,” a legislative digest says.

NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said the state’s current foster care ban “no longer aligns with public attitudes toward marijuana, nor does it align with the marijuana laws of Nevada or the surrounding states that regulate its use.”

“As cannabis laws change, it is imperative that lawmakers also target and amend these ‘holdover’ policies so that consumers no longer face discrimination for behaviors that are state-legal,” he said.

Ashley Kennedy, a lobbyist for Clark County, which requested the legislative fix, told lawmakers earlier this month that “over the years we have lost qualified, caring individuals due to former criminal records, particularly from marijuana convictions related to possession that were over 20 years old or longer,” and those types of convictions “no longer align with Nevada’s current laws.”

With the Senate’s final passage of the bipartisan measure, it now goes to the desk of Gov. Joe Lombardo (R), who has previously approved cannabis and psychedelic reform legislation.

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For what it’s worth, a 2023 study found that states that legalized medical marijuana saw a nearly 20 percent drop in the number of children entering foster care due to parental drug misuse after three years of the reform. Legalizing for adult use, meanwhile, was not associated with any statistically significant change in foster care entries.

While the study didn’t identify a meaningful link between adult-use legalization and foster care drug misuse cases, a separate study published in 2022 did. Researchers at the University of Mississippi found that recreational legalization was associated with at least a 10 percent decrease in foster care admissions on average, including reductions in placements due to physical abuse, neglect, parental incarceration and misuse of alcohol and other drugs.

Meanwhile in Nevada, the state Assembly recently amended and advanced a Senate-passed joint resolution calling on Congress to reschedule certain psychedelics, streamline research and provide protections for people using the substances in compliance with state law.

Last month, meanwhile, a Nevada Assembly committee passed a psychedelic pilot program bill that would allow some patients with certain medical conditions to legally access substances such as psilocybin, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline.

Ohio Is More Than Doubling The Amount Of Marijuana That Adults Can Legally Buy Per Day

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.