Nevada’s long awaited cannabis consumption lounges will open in 2023

Nevada's long-awaited cannabis consumption lounges are about to open in the first half of 2023, according to the state's regulators. The state Cannabis Compliance Board CCB announced the first 40 cannabis consumption lounge licensees at a lottery event on Wednesday.

Permits are awarded by using random number selector software. Twenty were reserved for social equity applicants, while the remaining 20 went to existing marijuana retailers. The names of businesses with the first licenses are posted online.

Applications were accepted on October 14 and submissions were closed on October 27. The state's cannabis regulators received 100 applications, out of which 20 were from existing retailers, 50 from independent lounge applicants and 30 from independent social equity applicants.

Gov. Steve Sisolak D signed a bill from Assemblyman Steve Yeager D that legalized consumption lounges in Nevada last year. In June of this year, the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board approved regulations that allow cannabis consumption lounges to have licenses and operate in the state.

Nevada Regulators Appeal To Court Ruling To Remove Marijuana From Schedule 1 Drug Designation

It seems that the months-long legal hurdle that is marijuana's Schedule 1 drug designation in Nevada has not yet been cleared. The final ruling was issued in October after a Clark County District Court judge weighed in on a closely-followed lawsuit backed by the Nevada ACLU and filed against the Nevada Board of PharmacyBoard of Pharmacy.

With that decision, which follows an exciting precedent at the state court level that sought to remove cannabis' Schedule 1 designation, Judge Joe Hardy stripped the Board of Pharmacy of theBoard of Pharmacy of the ability to regulate cannabis, saying it exceeded its authority by keeping cannabis in Schedule I.

The court's ruling is a tectonic shift in State law with consequences that are beyond the scope of the Board's jurisdiction: it impacts state regulation of marijuana altogether, the delineation of what may or may not constitute criminal conduct and ultimately, public safety, the board said in the motion filed last week.

The legal director of ACLU NV, Chris Peterson, is of a different opinion.

He said that the District Court's decision was thoughtful and strong. For more than 20 years, there has been an inconsistency with how Nevada categorizes cannabis. Peterson stated that they are not planning to stop fighting for their cause.

He said that we have no intention of backing down until we have fixed this inconsistency to prevent further injustice.