Is Anything Being Done about Pot Smoking in Public?

I am in a few Facebook groups about Las Vegas and I am hearing that marijuana smoking on the streets and even inside the hotels and casinos is quite common, even though illegal. My understanding is that it can be smoked only in one’s own home. Many complain about the smell. What, if anything, is being done about this? Can anything be done? We are headed there next month and I am not looking forward to the smell of marijuana added to that of cigarettes.

Your understanding of the law is correct.

Las Vegas Review-Journal Politics & Government Editor Steve Sebelius writes, “It is true that public consumption of marijuana is illegal. There is currently an effort in the Legislature to legalize ‘marijuana consumption lounges,’ where it could be legally consumed, but that has not yet passed. (Several issues need to be worked out, including the state's outdated DUI standard.) Of note: consumption on the premises of a casino is also not permitted, under Gaming Commission advice that, since marijuana remains illegal under federal law, casinos should avoid allowing it to be consumed on their premises so as to avoid entanglements with federal authorities.”

Adds Dawn Christiansen of the Nevada Resort Association, “Cannabis remains illegal under federal law, where it's still classified as a controlled substance. Due to this, Nevada gaming regulators have mandated that the gaming industry and the cannabis industry shall remain separate.” In other words, no toking in your hotel room, let alone on the casino floor. As for those scofflaws who choose light up inside their rooms, we can only conclude that the traces of their activity are eradicated in the same manner as cigarette smoke, which can be just as noxious.

One might want to keep their cannabis-derived edibles off-property, too, as Nevada law defines marijuana as including “the resin extracted from any part of the plan, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of the plant, its seeds or resin.”

A first offense brings a $600 fine and/or six months in jail. The fine is upped to $1,000 on the second offense, which is still a misdemeanor. Three strikes and it’s a gross misdemeanor punishable by a year in the hoosegow and $2,000. Four offenses makes one a Class E felon, facing as many as four years in the pen plus a $5,000 penalty.

None of that seems to be much of a deterrent. Says one nose-witness, “The fact is, the smell of pot smoke is pretty common on the Strip and especially downtown, which is much more enclosed.”

Even so, marijuana-law enforcement is anything but a high-priority item for Las Vegas Metro, which sniffs, "We don't keep readily available statistics on this type of crime.” Still, Metro insists, “If officers encounter citizens smoking in public, they can be cited for a misdemeanor and face applicable penalties issued by the court.”

For anyone interested in the results of our previous "nail-in-Las-Vegas'-coffin" poll, which garnered nearly 6,300 votes, you can see them by clicking here.

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Comments

Jackie Apr-17-2021

Preference

I would tolerate a marijuana smoker or eater more easily than a tobacco smoker or chewer and even a drunkard.  Both tobacco and alcohol are legal drug addictions but are extremely more offensive than marijuana.  No one ever died from marijuana but millions have from tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption not to mention drunk driving murderers which law enforcement considers a simple manslaughter charge. Yet casinos still allow smoking where second hand smoke is an act of criminal DEADLY assault but the courts never prosecute.  Our values and acceptance of such heinous acts are tolerated instead of prosecuted by District Attorneys and Judges who go outside the law and dismiss such cases.  Wake up people and stop these assaults.

Kevin Rough Apr-17-2021

Not that bad

I visit Las Vegas for 2 separate weeks every year.  While I have read people's complaints of widespread marijuana use, I personally have only smelled it a handful of times.  I think a certain segment of the population likes to complain.

Gregory Apr-17-2021

Kill Joy

I don't partake, but if someone wants to, let them.  Smoking in a hotel room is not cool, but smoking outside is not a problem.   Why are there so may smoking (weed or non-weed) police?  You call this a free country, but only when it meets your specifications.  Why not raise a stink about every other illegal activity that goes unchecked?  I'd like to see your driving history.  Exceeding the speed limit is illegal too.

Wally Apr-17-2021

what is proper procedure?

I smoke neither tobacco nor marijuana, nor do I appreciate the aroma of either. If my hotel neighbor is smoking to the extent that the odor is bothersome to me, and assuming I booked a nonsmoking room, am I correct to contact management? I never want to intrude on another's enjoyment, especially in the privacy of their home (or hotel room), but the smell is infringing on enjoyment. If management declines to assist, with perhaps a room in a different location, do I threaten to contact gaming control or federal authorities or both?

Kevin Lewis Apr-17-2021

The lesser of two evils

Anyone who lights up a cigarette in public should be executed on the spot, but that doesn't happen, darn it. So given that laxity, I can't see any reason to squelch pot smoking. It's marginally less disgusting.

Pat Higgins Apr-17-2021

Big tex

I hate all forms of, both cigarette & marijuana.  If the casino where I am playing doesn’t police smoking I simply color up,leave and go somewhere else.  Too many other places to play.

Randall Ward Apr-17-2021

 smell

loathe the smell, but it's everywhere now.  Here in Okc it's medicine and patients smoke it all over.  Hope the trend towards limiting smoking in the casinos continues and it applies to Marijuana

Raymond Apr-17-2021

Cresino

The problem with Marijuana is nobody knows the long term affects of smoking it. With cigarettes almost everyone smoked years ago and the affects of it can be quantified as causing health issues. Because it is against the law smoking marijuana was mostly done behind the scenes and the number of these smokers is unknown or what actual affects maybe including health issues. People say that it helps their health but no one knows if this is true or it is just to make marijuana more popular since the US Dept of Health has not approved its use. Only time will tell what health issues may arise as a result.

kafka45 Apr-17-2021

stick with edibles

Why smoke at all..  With the edibles you have a "better" chance of knowing exactly how much THC you're ingesting...  easier on your lungs..  just an all around less complicated experience.  If you're concerned about the price....... its not a recreational thing.. its a HABIT.  Better talk to someone about that..

Derbycity123 Apr-17-2021

Live forever.

No one ever died from marijuana. No one ever smoke marijuana had a car crash and died. Good to know.  No one ever died in a gang over selling marijuana. Good to know. No one ever got high and fell down stairs or off a balcony to their death. Good to know. Wow we should all smoke pot everyday and we would never die.

Jackie Apr-17-2021

What you don't know

Alcohol and Tobacco lobbyists made marijuana illegal.  NOT the DEA, not the FDA, but paid off Congress members did.
Think about it, who likes competition for their drugs.

O2bnVegas Apr-17-2021

For Wally

If you requested and got a non-smoking room, yes you should call the hotel front desk.  "I am in a non-smoking room which I requested, but an odor of smoke has begun permeating my room." Just like you would complain of loud music or anything else.  They will send Security to investigate.  Request to be moved for that reason.  They might offer to fumigate your room but the problem would continue.  They'll move you, might upgrade you (happened to us--noisy neighbors).  The smoking neighbor' need not know you complained.  I doubt you'll have to call gaming control or anybody.  It is on record, you called, they moved you.  What they do about the smoking neighbor, you'll probably never know.

Candy

Dave in Seattle. Apr-17-2021

Public weed.

Illegal? How stupid. Where can one imbibe? Parking garage? Down an alley?

Rod McElvain Apr-17-2021

Rod

Please don't go away, Kevin Lewis, some of us enjoy your comments.

Jon Anderson Apr-17-2021

public pot smoking

NuWu has a dispensary/lounge for its customers to sit and partake without breaking the law. now if the city, county, and state authorities can get their acts together by providing similar facilities/lounges, the public consumption problem would be mostly solved. give the non-residents a convenient and safe area/lounge to consume. how about some of the tax on the product be used for such things? more consumption = more $$$ in taxes... 
and we all know $$$ makes the world go around...

Thomas Dikens May-03-2021

Walking the strip.

I just returned from 12 days on the strip and the smell of Cannabis on the strip is really strong.  I can see it being a real negative for a lot of people.  The strip "feels" a little more dangerous and I was hassled a couple of times as I walked from the Wynn to Park MGM.  The absence of the conventions may have changed the tone of Vegas a bit.  I suspect things will get better and some class will return when the conventions come back.

Jeremy Feb-04-2022

People need to grow up.

For all you people thinking marijuana smoke is better for you than cigarette smoke, rather than getting high all day, take the few remaining brain cells you have left to do some research.

Seriously... what gives y'all the right to force intelligent people to have to breathe that filth because weed smokers need to get high?

It's filthy and disgusting. And, it's everywhere in Vegas. Home... work... everywhere. It's gross. Anyone who says otherwise is clearly a smoker.

Jeremy Feb-04-2022

And let's keep things fair...

To Kevin Lewis's comment... if you want to shoot cigarette smokers that light up... fine. But, let's also add pot smokers to that list. At least tabacco doesn't have an immediate affect on your cognition quite like pot does (it's marginal in comparison). Both are disgusting, and I've never met a genius who smokes pot frequently... although they all think they're geniuses.

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