Cannabis dispensary Planet 13 is buying a rival dispensary in the resort corridor for $6.9 million. A consultant said the deal would help in evaluating the value of the Las Vegas cannabis industry.

It will awhile - and some softening of federal of marijuana laws - for Nevada's growing legal cannabis business and the casino industry to overlap.

Six applicants seeking cannabis consumption lounge licenses under a category reserved for individuals convicted of crimes when marijuana was illegal were disqualified from the process.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced a bill today to create a federal grant program to fund the expunging or sealing of state-level cannabis offenses — using federal dollars to achieve a goal of legislative Democrats who passed a similar bill in 2023 but were stymied by Gov. Joe Lombardo's (R) veto pen.

The first two cannabis consumption lounges have opened in Las Vegas and proponents believe the concept is a natural fit for the hospitality-driven economy of Nevada.

“Industry has already come to me with ideas and saying … how heavily regulated [the market] is,” Jimmy Humm said. “These are the things that I want to look at with industry, potentially look to change at the next legislative session — but at the same time, we're bound by [state law].” 

In an industry that remains illegal at the federal level, but regulated in certain states, Nevada is experiencing some challenges also seen nationwide, such as slower investment and heavy regulation, but others that are confined to its borders.

The SAFER Banking Act, a new version of the SAFE Banking Act that passed the House seven times since 2019 but was never passed by the Senate, was again introduced in the Senate this year. The bill would allow legally operating cannabis businesses the same access to financial institutions that other legal businesses receive, from accounts to lines of credit to loans.

A committee was mandated to study federal and state laws and regulations concerning the removal of cannabis from Schedule I through SB277, which was passed in the 2023 legislative session. They are required to have a report ready for the Legislature by March 2024 that includes their research findings and policy recommendations.

During a Tuesday meeting, CCB Executive Director Tyler Klimas announced that provisional licensees have until the end of September to request another 90-day extension, stating that more than 19 entities have not submitted for an extension. 

According to Layke Martin, the executive director of the Nevada Cannabis Association, cannabis businesses could see up to an 80 percent drop in their tax burden if the drug is rescheduled because the tax code would allow them to write off more expenses. She said this could lead to lower prices for cannabis.

“The idea would be to … create more of a health and wellness atmosphere with the farm-to-table restaurant, [and] people can feel comfortable and educate themselves on the use of cannabis,” Steven Cantwell told the CCB board.

County commissioners said they plan to have officials bring the recommendations back next session, which included a $1 million appropriation from the state general fund to the Department of Public Safety to establish an Advisory Task Force on Automatic Record Sealing.

Washoe County commissioners on Tuesday voted against moving forward with allowing cannabis consumption lounges to open in unincorporated parts of the county.

The 1,200-square-foot venue is 90 percent complete, could run 24 hours a day, holds 100 people inside and has additional space on its 1,000-square-foot front patio. Operators said they hope the venue is the first lounge that opens in the state.

The Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) approved Thrive Cannabis Marketplace, a multilocation, large-scale cannabis operator, for a conditional consumption lounge license for its Sammy Davis Jr. Drive location near Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club in Clark County. The nearby Planet 13 Dispensary was also approved for licensing at the public meeting, as was Washoe County’s The Venue at Sol Cannabis. 

With an amendment, SB195 also seeks to require the CCB to provide estimates for the costs of investigations prior to the commencement of any investigation, remove the CCB’s authority to deny a license, transfer of interest, application, renewal or any regulatory process available to licensees for failure to pay fees, and introduce an appellate process for licensees.

Nevada lawmakers authorized medical marijuana dispensaries in 2013 through a deal that also put strict limitations on home growing, which patients such as Jordon Herring say contributes to a legal cannabis framework with major shortcomings, including high prices, contaminated products and a lack of medicinal resources.

“Those folks who are licensed right now, they have frustrations with their regulator, they have frustrations with the illicit market … so that was our goal,” said Brett Scolari, who presented the bill.

Anderson said the bill would authorize the CCB to conduct investigations on unregulated operators similar to the investigations it already conducts of licensed operators, such as compiling evidence and presenting it to the attorney general’s office, which can assign civil penalties.