You guys out there in Nevada just passed the one-year anniversary of legalized recreational marijuana. How do you think the whole thing went over the past 12 months? Any issues? How about projections for total sales and tax revenues? And what about local sentiment, is there a movement to delegalize it?
Lotta questions, which we’ll tackle in reverse order.
We haven’t heard a thing about any groundswell or vocal public support to make marijuana illegal again in Nevada since it recreational pot was legalized on July 1, 2017. For most people here, and around the country where it’s legal recreationally, it seems to be a non-issue with residents, other than, perhaps, the prevalence of the skunky smell.
Sales figures are in for only the first 10 months of the year, but they’ve been way above projections. Through April 30, the most recent available data, Nevada dispensaries have sold little more than $340 million worth of cannabis products, which brought in $55 million in taxes. The projections from the state were that dispensaries would sell $265 million worth of cannabis, which would raise $50 million in taxes. So both have already far exceeded estimates
One issue revolves around the problem of being able to buy the stuff, but not consume it legally in public or hotels, etc. The city of Las Vegas and Clark County are tackling the idea of cannabis lounges, which we’ve written about recently, but has been heating up of late.
And of course, as with any new half-billion-dollar-year industry in its first year, there’ve been a few growing pains.
In the first six months of legalization, the tax department suspended four of the nine cannabis testing facilities for improper procedures.
Also, dispensaries ran out of stock due to the limited number of licensed distributors. Alcohol distributors were given18 months of exclusive delivery rights, but were had such obvious disincentives to actually deliver that the budding (so to speak) industry took them and the state taxation department to court.
There’ve also been a couple of robberies—cannabis being a strictly cash business thus far.
Finally, only a handful of people (54 total) were processed through Las Vegas Justice Court for consuming cannabis in a public place or moving vehicle in the first full year of legalization.
