Nevada’s adult-use cannabis industry has been online for about one week, yet dispensaries permitted to sell to adults are already running out of products, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. The coming drought has led the Department of Taxation to propose a “statement of emergency” rules that would open up distribution licenses to applicants beyond alcohol distributors.
Gov. Brian Sandoval has endorsed the proposal.
“Based on reports of adult-use marijuana sales already far exceeding the industry’s expectations at the state’s 47 licensed retail marijuana stores, and the reality that many stores are running out of inventory, the Department must address the lack of distributors immediately,” said Tax Department spokeswoman Stephanie Klapstein in the report. “Some establishments report the need for delivery within the next several days.”
Thus far, the state has been unable to license any cannabis distributors in the state due to a lawsuit against the department by the Independent Alcohol Distributors of Nevada who claim that the department’s plan to issue distribution licenses to non-members of the organization violates the letter of the voter-approved law. The law provides exclusive cannabis distribution rights to alcohol transporters for the first 18 months of legal sales.
According to Klapstein, the department has received seven applications from liquor wholesalers to distribute cannabis to the state’s dispensaries, but “most don’t meet the requirements that would allow us to license them.”
“Even as we attempted to schedule the final facility inspection for one of the applicants this week, they told us their facility was not ready and declined the inspection,” she said.
The Tax Commission will vote on the statement of emergency regulations on Thursday, July 13.
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