Yes it is still illegal to open one. There is also a new task force in Las Vegas that is actively scouring neighborhoods looking for grow houses. They call it the SCORE Task force. This is a collaboration between metro and the dea. The article I read said they had raided 88 houses as of 7-12-11.
Here's the article-and a link to the youtube video mentioned in the article.
LAS VEGAS -- Metro police here have sent out a message to local marijuana dealers, using social media to spread the word. Metro has produced a five-minute YouTube video narrated by Capt. Richard Collins, commander of LVMPD Vice and Narcotics.
Collins and Metro are looking to involve everyday citizens in their drug war by teaching them the basic techniques of indoor grow houses and how to smell them out. Collins explains in the video neighbors should look for houses with nocturnal activity, aluminum foil on the windows and a distinct smell: a pungent odor similar to a skunk.
Las Vegas Metro Police have busted more than 88 grow house operations in 2011. With the high inventory of vacant homes in the stagnant Las Vegas housing market, the problem may become a larger one in the future. In 2010, police busted 119 grow houses: By September 2011, Las Vegas Metro expects to exceed the total number of grow house busts in all of 2010.
The issue in Las Vegas is that medical marijuana is legal but Metro Police is stepping up their enforcement despite the legality issues. Metro is busting many medical marijuana distributors along with illegal grow houses. The issue is coming to a head as the medical marijuana law is being ignored and Las Vegas Metro is targeting owners of the medical marijuana store fronts.
Collins also announced the new Southern Nevada Cannabis Operations and Regulation Enforcement (SCORE). SCORE is a task force that will scour neighborhoods looking for the signs of a grow house in neighborhoods around Las Vegas and they will also work with the Drug Enforcement Agency to step up raids on grow houses and medical marijuana operations suppliers.
The end game of the Las Vegas Metro Police is to close the medical marijuana suppliers grow houses, thus cutting off the supply to medical marijuana card holders and eventually snuffing out the medical marijuana businesses.
The fact that the Las Vegas Metro Police Department is working closely with the DEA on their new SCORE task force. The cost of the task force is not known but judging by the manpower and military style equipment in the video the cost will be substantial.
It will be interesting to see if the medical marijuana businesses are still standing once the smoke clears in the wake of this new SCORE task force working hand in hand with the DEA. This project comes in the wake of the international finding that the drug war is a lost cause.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy released a detailed report in June that the drug war is costing countries more money related to enforcement than if the countries legalized marijuana and other drugs. The percentage of drug offenders in prisons in the United States are 25 percent of the prison population according to the Drug War Facts website.
And this-the metro video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O2Xf71-rRE