NV: Judge Blocks State From Approving Some Marijuana Business Permits

Ron Strider

Well-Known Member
The alcohol folks said Question 2 – which passed 54 percent to 45 percent – gave them the right to be the middleman: the people who transport the recreational marijuana from the growhouse to the store.

First Judicial District Judge James Wilson agreed. His ruling, which prevents the Nevada Department of Taxation from licensing anyone other than alcohol distributors, says "plaintiff's members will very likely be shut out of the marijuana distribution business entirely if the department issues distribution licenses to non-alcohol distributors."

"It's really great to have a judge see that what the voters intended and voted for wasn't being done and that it should be," says Sam McMullen, spokesperson for the Independent Alcohol Distributors of Nevada, the group which asked Wilson for the injunction.

The Department of Taxation said not enough alcohol distributors had applied, so it opened the distribution process up to the people already doing it – our medical marijuana industry.

The big question now: Will recreational pot sales start July 1?

"It sounds like if there is a delay, it isn't going to be much of a delay at all. It sounds like it maybe a few weeks to a month, which in the grand scheme of things isn't that big of a deal," says Joe Brezny, who was the spokesperson for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana, another driving force behind question two. Question 2.

The initiative mandated that recreational sales begin Jan. 1, although the state wants to roll out an early July start to get recreational sales going as soon as possible.

"If it takes a few weeks or a month more to get going, we're really just in line with what every other state has done," Brenzy said. "This is a pretty complicated process, and so having a delay when you're dotting the 'i's' or crossing the 't's' at the last minute isn't that unusual."

Here's why this whole issue is so important: a marijuana industry depends on it.

Medical dispensaries, it turns out, aren't the cash cows their owners expected.

They get first dibs selling recreational pot while our recreational industry gets up and running.

"We need far more, the volume of business that any one business is doing is not enough to grow the industry," says Jacob Silverstein, the marketing manager at Las Vegas Releaf Dispensary.

It's an industry waiting for the real money to come in.

Nevada_State_Legislature_-_David_B_Parker.png


News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Judge blocks state from approving some marijuana business permits | KSNV
Author: Jeff Gillan|
Contact: Las Vegas Contact | News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KSNV
Photo Credit: David B Parker
Website: Las Vegas News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KSNV
 
Back
Top Bottom