Recreational Marijuana Sales: Executive Order Signed
The Governor of Nevada has signed into law an ‘Executive Order’ that allows the sale of recreational marijuana. Nevada’s Governor Sandoval signed the executive order on February 3rd, 2017. This legislation went into effect as of July 1st, 2017. The law would provide additional staff to the Nevada Department of Taxation to help tax and regulate the cannabis industry. Governor Sandoval was not open for comments about his belief in whether he thought that the federal government would intervene in a voter-approved legislation for recreational marijuana use in Nevada. Other government officials, upon being interviewed, thought that it was unlikely that there would be a federal government intervention.
The New Law
With the new law approved by Governor Sandoval, medical marijuana dispensaries that are currently in operation could start to sell weed to anyone over the age of 21 as of July 1st. Some are worried that this new legislation could be blocked by a judge. In the meantime, there are those who are hopeful. This new legislation clearly allows marijuana dispensaries to sell to anyone over 21 years of age an ounce of weed. This would include visitors and tourists. The marijuana dispensaries have to be officially licensed. The law allows individuals to possess an ounce of weed without concern of being arrested.
The Cannabis Retail System
When the retail system of selling recreational cannabis is established, marijuana dispensaries will return to selling weed only to qualifying medical patients who have a doctor’s recommendation. Right now, Nevada has sixty marijuana dispensaries with twenty five of them located in the city of Las Vegas and its surroundings.
The Rollout
Even with the rollout of the sales of recreational marijuana on July 1st, a county meeting unveiled a different schedule to orchestrate a delay until the month of September. The panel in the meeting thought that waiting until September would only empower the black market to grow and distribute weed illegally. The panel in the meeting included a few members of the cannabis industry, which some say should raise a red flag. But, despite, the July 1st date did move ahead. Licenses were planned to be issued by the state so that medical cannabis dispensaries can also begin selling weed for recreational use on July 1st. That would generate more tax revenue for the county. So everything is progressing so far. Specific recommendations were approved so that action could be quickly taken after the meeting.
Other Essentials
Part of the legislation established that there can be no marijuana consumption or delivery to any place with gambling activities in Clark County. This includes the entire Strip corridor. However, it also includes gaming license holders. This means marijuana use is not tolerated at any bar with slot machines, gaming equipment or video poker. So, the bottom line is that the law disallows gaming companies to have any association with marijuana. This is because of the federal prohibition laws.
No Combination
In the state of Colorado, both recreational and medical marijuana are identified as such from cultivation. Once the product is cultivated, it is labeled either medical or recreational and cannot be reclassified. So the medical dispensaries must sell them over different sales counters and not together. However, the Governor of Nevada and the panel in the same meeting that was held pressed to avoid differentiation of recreational and medical marijuana until it reaches the point of sale and when the recreational marijuana is given a higher rate of taxation. The law allows counties to have a master license that combines both the recreational and medical cannabis licenses.
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