Marijuana panel tackles Nevada transition to recreational pot, talks casinos’ role

Tue, Mar 28, 2017 (2 a.m.)

A panel of local figures in Clark County’s gaming, resort, marijuana and retail associations discussed the importance of maintaining Nevada’s medical marijuana program while the state transitions to recreational pot and the legalized plant’s effect on the Strip corridor in its first meeting Monday in the central Las Vegas Valley.

Among the most contested topics discussed by the 12-member Clark County Green Ribbon Advisory Panel revolved around marijuana use in casinos, which remains banned by the Nevada Gaming Control Board despite Nevadans voting to legalize recreational possession and use of up to one ounce of the plant on Nov. 8.

“It’s federally illegal and we can’t have it in our resorts,” said Andy Abboud, vice president of government relations for Las Vegas Sands.

The atmosphere during the nearly three-hour meeting was calm and cooperative but turned briefly contentious 15 minutes in, when panelist Frank Hawkins of the Nevada Wellness Center dispensary challenged Abboud on the casino industry’s unwillingness to consider allowing marijuana use.

“It’s already in your casinos, in your nightclubs and your VIP tables,” Hawkins said.

Abboud repeatedly asked Hawkins if he had any data to prove his claims, his voice rising each time. The dispensary owner finally conceded he did not.

Marijuana industry representatives were adamant that despite about 120 new state recreational certifications to be distributed from July 1 of this year to Jan. 1, 2020, to both existing medical marijuana dispensaries and facilities for recreational-only marijuana sales, the state should “do anything we can” to maintain a robust program for medical marijuana.

Andrew Jolley, the Nevada Dispensary Association president and CEO of The+Source dispensaries, said prices on medicinal marijuana items should be lower for state medical card-holders than the same products for recreational sale. While proposed tax rates in bills currently being heard at the Nevada Legislature are as much as 10 percent lower on medical marijuana products than their recreational counterparts, final sale prices must be low enough to encourage patients to continue applying for the state card.

“If we lose our popular medical products, it would a great disservice to these patients,” Jolley said, citing popular medical sellers like marijuana-infused suppositories, tinctures and lotions.

Speakers during public comment were limited to three minutes each. Medicinal marijuana advocate Cindy Brown was one of several to advocate for cannabis lounges, currently up for a hearing this week in the Legislature. Brown told panelists that users of the plant “do not cause problems you think they do,” adding that marijuana should be legal for public consumption the same way alcohol is.

Pot users prefer a more mellow social setting than a bar where alcoholic drinks can be consumed, Brown said, because users are “more relaxed.”

“We’re tired of hiding,” Brown said, referring to currently illegal marijuana use that happens in public places.

Las Vegan Vicki Higgins proposed that marijuana lounges be designed similar to hookah lounges, with food and occasional live music. Lawful marijuana use in public would allow users of the plant to openly teach others about its medicinal and wellness benefits in a more socially appropriate setting than a person’s residence. Such restrictions have caused marijuana users in Nevada to become isolated, she said.

“Our community has been focused on being alone, staying alone and not being social,” Higgins said. “We want a fun, reasonable place to go.”

The panel is set for two additional meetings and will reconvene on April 3 and April 10. Speaking at Monday’s panel, both Abboud and Essence Dispensary owner Armen Yemenidjian campaigned to expand both the group’s focus and number of future meetings.

“We believe in constant and ongoing communication so that everybody’s on the same page,” Yemenidjian said. “There’s so much more going on in our industry than just five priorities.”

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