There were 174 applications submitted on Monday to be one of the Nevada’s 76 authorized medical marijuana dispensaries, according to the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.
Additionally, 263 individuals applied for other licenses involved in the cannabis industry, including marijuana cultivation facilities, production facilities, and testing labs.
The Division of Public and Behavioral Health has until November 3 to review the applications and settle on recipients for the dispensaries’ provisional licenses. Potential licensees must then be approved by local and county governments before being issued final licenses by the state.
Nevada’s medical marijuana program underwent a major overhaul last year to introduce a system of dispensaries and new regulations. The original bill, passed with a 65% vote in 2000, allowed for personal cultivation of up to 12 plants for patients and their caregivers — under the updated system, however, homegrown plants will no longer be allowed after March 31, 2016 unless a patient lives more than 25 miles from an authorized dispensary.
With 140 of the 174 applicants being based in Clark County, applicants here are taking an extreme gamble: under state law, only 40 dispensaries will be allowed in the region, which includes the Las Vegas area. Meanwhile, 20 dispensaries are allotted for Washoe County, which includes Reno; two are designated for Ormsby County, which includes state capitol Carson City; and one medical marijuana dispensary each is designated for the state’s remaining counties.
State records indicate there are 5,859 patients in the medical marijuana program. Approximately 70% of patients live in Clark County, about 11% are in Washoe County, and the rest are scattered throughout rural Nevada.
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Photo Credit: ADTeasdale