Voice of the Community

A note to Congressman Amodei

Congressman,

Just a couple of weeks ago you stood in front of 500 at a town hall asking for us to give you credit for coming out publicly against the AHCA. This was credit you deserved. You had come out stating that the bill would hurt Nevadans and their families. Shortly afterward you sat with a small group of constituents, including myself, and explained at length why that bill was bad for Nevadan families and why you “would only vote for a bill you could bring back to Nevada and defend to your constituents.”

Yet, this past week while the new and even worse version of the AHCA was being debated you refused to come out against it. Up until Wednesday afternoon your staff in Reno and D.C. was telling constituents on the phone that you were a “no” vote.

On Thursday morning you voted “yes” on the AHCA; a law that will result in hundreds of thousands of Nevadans losing their insurance in the next two years, put unnecessary strain on our hospitals and emergency care centers, and turn back significant progress we’ve made in Nevada over the last few years under the ACA.

My question for you is: Why? Why would you tell your constituents for months that you would not vote for a bill that would cause undue harm then turn around and vote for it? Whose pocket are you in? It definitely wasn’t your constituents who changed your mind. Who did?

Ryan Budman

Reno

READER SOUNDS OFF ON LIBRARY FUNDING

Editor:

A recent headline in the Lahontan Valley News stated that “Libraries and Book Mobiles are threatened by Trump budget”

Why is it that something as local as those two things should be funded by the federal government These things should be part of the local education budget.

The problem there is that all of the education money goes toward wages and benefits for the teachers and principals’ unions.

The US is 14th among 40 developed countries in the world. We were Number 1 pre-union. Nevada is a dismal 49 out of 50 in the U.S. From our RINO (Republican In Name Only) governor, right down to city level, all we hear is, we need more money for the “Kids” That fact is, the only thing they care about are their fat salaries and fat retirement plans. Who else can retire in there 50s in Nevada other than public employee union members? The governor and everyone else involved in the Nevada education system should be ashamed of themselves for their total incompetence. Trump’s budget has nothing to do with the libraries or book mobiles.

Norv Azevedo

Fallon

Editor’s note: Clarification: Public libraries are county operated and have nothing to do with school districts or teacher unions. They are funded separately. Also, the President’s budget, of which we have a copy, does call for elimination of all public-library and museum funding that augments state funding.

Nation’s supply of meds must be protected

Senator Bernie Sanders has set out to convince Congress and the American people that importing drugs from abroad will benefit consumers and produce more affordable drugs. Importation will do no such thing. In fact, if importation is allowed, Americans will be at greater risk of buying a drug that is substandard, adulterated, or fake.

Currently, the Federal Drug Administration has an airtight quality control system for America’s drugs on the market that keep patients safe. Patient safety and the high quality of our medicine is a cornerstone of our healthcare system. The FDA lacks the resources to ensure the same quality for imported drugs. Recently, four previous FDA commissioners stated it would be nearly impossible to have the same level of control given the number of origins and pathways of imported drugs.

As Vice President of Government Affairs of the Retail Association Chain Drug Council, I’m acutely aware of our states many deaths due to the same second-rate and dangerous fake drugs brought in from the black market.

I urge Senator Heller to protect our nation’s drug supply by maintaining access to safe medicines. Importation is dangerous and not in the best interest of anyone depending on effective and safe pharmaceuticals.

Liz MacMenamin

Vice President of Government Affairs, Retail Association Chain Drug Council

Marijuana bills will continue to drain lawmakers’ time

Assemblyman Jim Wheeler correctly identified 25 marijuana-related bills introduced in this Nevada legislative session as consuming an inordinate amount of time and attention of lawmakers. Time spent on the state run marijuana program is time stolen from dealing with larger questions of economic development/job creation, education reform and funding, transportation needs and public health and safety.

However, Nevadans haven’t seen anything yet. Expect even greater focus on marijuana in future legislative sessions. In Colorado, state law enforcement organizations asked for a legislative moratorium after 81 marijuana-related bills had been introduced from 2013-2016. This blizzard of legislation left police and prosecutors complaining that they were lost in enforcing marijuana laws.

Local governments should also anticipate a similar attention drain in implementing marijuana legalization. A Massachusetts legislative special committee on marijuana observed “legalization by our state and local governments would consume enormous amounts of time and energy that could otherwise be spent addressing other challenging issues already facing our cities and towns”

Jim Hartman

Genoa