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Nevada cannabis lounges approved by state oversight board

by Travis C | Jun 30, 2022 | 420 Culture & Travel, Blog, Business, Cannabis Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Cannabis News, Culture, Industry News, Legalization, Marijuana

Nevada cannabis consumption lounge licenses

Regulations for the licensing and operation of cannabis consumption lounges in Nevada received approval from the state’s oversight board Tuesday.

State lawmakers approved a bill authorizing cannabis consumption lounges in Nevada last year. The last several months have included 15 meetings among Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board members to determine the licensing process.

Two consumption lounge license-types will be issued. The first is for lounges that will be directly attached to a retail cannabis dispensary. The second is for independent, stand alone consumption lounges.

Anybody can apply for a Nevada cannabis consumption lounge license. However one person cannot hold a retail dispensary license and an independent consumption lounge license at the same time.

Only the owner of a licensed operational retail cannabis dispensary may be eligible to apply for a retail cannabis consumption lounge license. In other words, a consumption lounge attached to a dispensary will be owned by the owner of the dispensary.

The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board will hand out 20 licenses for independent consumption lounges, with 10 reserved for social equity applicants. To qualify as a social equity applicant, the applicant must be someone “who has been adversely affected by provisions of previous laws which criminalized activity relating to cannabis, as determined by the Board [. . .] Such adverse effects may include, without limitation, adverse effects on an owner or officer of the applicant.”

An independent cannabis consumption lounge would contract with a retail cannabis dispensary to supply cannabis for customers to consume on site.

If all 20 licenses are handed out by June 30, more will be issued as long as the amount of independent consumption licenses does not outnumber the amount of retail consumption lounges.

However a retail cannabis consumption lounge will not come cheap. The application alone requires a non-refundable application fee of $100,000.

An independent cannabis consumption license on the other hand will carry a $10,000 fee to apply. This fee can be reduced further for social equity applicants.

Currently there is no word on when or how the licenses will be scored and issued. Additionally there will still be several months ahead of developing and promulgating regulations for cannabis consumption lounges.

Local jurisdictions will also have the option to restrict cannabis consumption lounges from opening in their area.

The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board will be keeping those interested in Nevada cannabis consumption lounges up to date through a newsletter, which can be subscribed to on the government website.

Ann Arbor dispensary to open Michigan’s first cannabis consumption lounge

by The Real Dirt | May 10, 2021 | 420 Culture & Travel, 420 News, Blog, Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Culture, Legalization

Michigan cannabis consumption lounge approved in Ann Arbor

An Ann Arbor dispensary is venturing into recreational cannabis’ next frontier: consumption lounges.

According to WXYZ 7 Action News, Holistic Industries, which operates Liberty Provisioning Center, have announced plans to open a cannabis consumption lounge adjacent to the dispensary at 338 S. Ashley Street.

“We’re thrilled to bring Michigan’s first cannabis consumption lounge to Ann Arbor and create a one-of-a-kind experience for the many people in Ann Arbor who agree that life is better with cannabis,” a spokesperson shared with WXYZ. “By providing a safe, designated space for consumption, we are helping remove some of the potential roadblocks cannabis patients and customers face after they purchase products and want to consume them.”

Liberty Provisioning Center opened last summer and services recreational clients and medical marijuana patients. Despite 2018’s legalization of recreational weed in Michigan, neighboring businesses are concerned that a consumption lounge — which is exactly as it sounds like: a commercial space where adults are legally allowed to consume cannabis on-site — could pose a threat to the community.

Sherry Doughty, who operates a Montessori school just a few hundred feet from the proposed site of the consumption lounge, is among those community members who remain skeptical.

“We don’t want them using the playground as a place to party,” Doughty told WXYZ. “If people will be milling around outdoors and if that will impact our staff and our children.” A local therapist who operates his business out of a house close to the dispensary and the yet-to-open lounge is also wary even though he supports legal cannabis.

“I don’t want a bunch of potheads walking around acting like a bunch of fools, would you?” Ken Land said. “If they get out of line, I’ll get crabby. But if they don’t, live and let live.”

Read Full Story from Detroit Metro Times

Las Vegas Braces for Cannabis Consumption Lounges

by The Real Dirt | May 3, 2021 | 420 Culture & Travel, 420 News, Blog, Business, Cannabis Law, Cannabis Law and Compliance, Culture

Cannabis lounges, where patrons can smoke a joint, rip a bong, vaporize a dab or do just about anything else you can think of with the plant, appeared to be a certainty as part of a Las Vegas ordinance back in 2017—and then again in 2019. They’ve been talked about for over four years in the entertainment capital of America.

But this time around, after years of setbacks and political meddling from the rival gaming industry, a bill at the Nevada State Legislature is on track to settle the score once and for all.

Assembly Bill 341 would pave the way for an unlimited number of lounges to open across the state, in counties where local governments allow cannabis businesses to operate. That includes in Sin City, where over 40 million tourists visited each year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This would really open the floodgates for something marijuana users have wanted for a long time,” said Assemblyman Steve Yeager, a Democrat from Las Vegas who sponsored the bill. “And there’s a social equity part to it where we’re not restricting this just to licensed dispensary owners.”

Yeager, in his third term at the state’s biennial legislature, has felt the frustration himself. Long considered the heir apparent to former State Sen. Tick Segerblom, who was known as Nevada’s “Godfather of Marijuana,” Yeager watched as the fledgling industry offered all of its spoils to a tiny group of anointed business owners, most of whom were lawyers, doctors, casino operators, lobbyists and former public officials.

Less than 100 groups control almost all of the industry, as the state capped dispensary licenses from the adult-use program’s inception in 2017. Many of the companies are also vertically integrated, meaning dispensary owners also hold the lion’s share of production and cultivation permits. Disproportionately left out have been women and racial minorities, the latter group of which was most harmed by cannabis prohibition.

The new bill runs so contrary to the state’s years of meticulously restricting licenses and hand-picking operators that many dispensary owners are wondering if opening a lounge is even worth the investment.

“You have to figure out if you can make any money with them,” said David Goldwater, owner of Inyo, a dispensary located just over a mile from the Las Vegas Strip. “There’s going to be a ton of new competition.”