{"id":1755,"date":"2025-02-07T18:09:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T02:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stand77.biz\/category\/casino-resorts\/nevada-lawmakers-push-for-solutions-to-combat-illegal-marijuana-sales-in-state-las-vegas-sun-news\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T18:09:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T02:09:41","slug":"nevada-lawmakers-push-for-solutions-to-combat-illegal-marijuana-sales-in-state-las-vegas-sun-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stand77.biz\/category\/casino-resorts\/nevada-lawmakers-push-for-solutions-to-combat-illegal-marijuana-sales-in-state-las-vegas-sun-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Nevada lawmakers push for solutions to combat illegal marijuana sales in state –\nLas Vegas Sun News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 | 2 a.m.<\/p>\n

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Buying marijuana on the Las Vegas Strip is illegal. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s difficult.<\/p>\n

Tourists are only a Google search away from the many illegal websites offering delivery to the Resort Corridor. Others can hop on social media to find \u201cpop-up sales parties\u201d in nearby hotel suites. And, as Assemblymember Max Carter II, D-Las Vegas, recalls a visitor telling him, rideshare vehicles will sometimes come supplied with a mini-dispensary.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn its face, if you\u2019re prohibiting legal cannabis to the Strip, you\u2019re inviting illegal cannabis,\u201d said Riana Durrett, director of UNLV\u2019s Cannabis Policy Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2023, 30% of marijuana sales in Nevada were illegal, according to the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board. Local representatives in Congress and the state Legislature are looking to tamp down Nevada\u2019s illegal market by removing hurdles for operators playing by the state\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe illicit market\u2019s getting cleverer and cleverer about how they\u2019re distributing,\u201d Carter said. \u201cThese (tourists) think they\u2019re buying legal stuff. It looks just like it. You can\u2019t tell the difference, so they think it\u2019s legal, tested, taxed; the whole nine yards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nevada Gaming Control Board made it known a decade ago that gaming locations would not be allowed to interact with the burgeoning business. Durrett said mixing marijuana and gambling for the board was a \u201cnonstarter.\u201d But there are still 13 nongaming hotels on the Strip. Carter envisions allowing kiosks within those properties where delivery drivers can drop off marijuana products. He said there would be \u201cminimal\u201d cash kept on those sites to cut down on the potential for robberies.<\/p>\n

Carter is set to file the bill sometime over the next week or two, and he\u2019s hoping to find Republican lawmakers to sign on as cosponsors. He\u2019s also hoping to get buy-in from both the gaming and cannabis industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s going to have to be a compromise between gaming and cannabis to where cannabis feels they can do a safe operation and the resorts, the gaming industry, feels (comfortable),\u201d he said. \u201cBoth sides need to be involved in figuring out how.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon Wiegand, chief operating officer of Jardin Dispensary and president of the Nevada Cannabis Association, said the state\u2019s rules don\u2019t allow delivery of cannabis products to motels and trailer parks either.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are individuals that are residents that live here that want to be able to purchase and have cannabis delivery,\u201d Wiegand said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any reason we should prevent that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a rigorous process set up by the state was in place to verify the identity of people requesting marijuana delivery. Since Nevada issued its first delivery license eight years ago<\/a>, Wiegand said the system had been \u201cvery effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Durrett\u2019s recent Nevada Cannabis Report, she and her co-author, former Cannabis Policy lab director Christina Dempsey, recommended cannabis delivery be expanded to short-term rentals and mobile homes.<\/p>\n

They wrote that delivery similar to what Carter is proposing should also be considered.<\/p>\n

The current ban is \u201cnot necessarily completely based on the federal prohibition,\u201d Durrett said, so there\u2019s room for the state to make changes.<\/p>\n

What worries Carter the most about current illegal sales on and near the Strip is the safety of products and the safety of people buying those products. The assemblyman is a TIP volunteer, meaning he assists survivors near a crime scene when a dead body is still present.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been to scenes \u2026 out there on the Strip where people got tainted products, whether they were trying to buy heroin or Xanax,\u201d he said, speaking about fentanyl. \u201cWe do not need Pam and Joe from Iowa out here on vacation reliving their teenage years and having something horrible happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there have been reported cases of fentanyl-laced marijuana, researchers have found \u201cno evidence of (a) widespread\u201d presence in the national drug supply.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the financial loss to the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides safety, besides all of that, how much tax dollars are we losing because of illicit pot sold out there?\u201d Carter asked. \u201cIt\u2019s not taxed, so it\u2019s not flowing into the funds that they\u2019re supposed to be flowing into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiegand said for every dollar spent in the industry, around 21 cents go to taxes. Illegal marijuana sales in 2024 in Nevada reached around $200 million, according to the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board. That translates to a loss of about $4.2 million in marijuana tax collections, which by law are designated to go to Nevada\u2019s public schools.<\/p>\n

One of the largest driving forces of the illegal cannabis market is price.<\/p>\n

Durrett said the average price for an eighth of an ounce of marijuana is $40 in a legal Nevada dispensary, although prices dropped by 17% from May 2023 to May 2024. However, an eighth of an ounce on the black market costs around $5, according to the UNLV institute.<\/p>\n

Federal reforms<\/strong><\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, said one of the caucus\u2019s top priorities is the SAFE Banking Act<\/a>, which has bounced around the halls of Congress for over a decade. It could push prices of legal cannabis down further, she said.<\/p>\n

The legislation would prevent national banks, which have lower fees than their small-scale counterparts, from being punished for working with marijuana businesses. It would also enable dispensaries to accept credit cards, getting around the additional cost of bank transfers currently used.<\/p>\n

The idea has bipartisan support. U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., helped introduce the bill in the Senate in 2023, and Republican President Donald Trump previously signaled he would support banking reform. Titus pointed to her co-chairs in the caucus \u2014 Reps. Brian Mast, R-Fla., and David Joyce, R-Ohio \u2014 as additional reasons for hope this time around.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving those two allies I think will help us make some headway to push it through,\u201d Titus said.<\/p>\n

She also wants to see marijuana moved from a Schedule I drug alongside LSD and heroin to Schedule III, calling it \u201cthe way to go.\u201d That process was put on hold after a January court decision, but she said \u201cwe\u2019re going to try to keep pushing for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it may not seem connected, the change could affect consumer prices. Cannabis operators would be able to access tax exemptions prohibited for companies producing Schedule I drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can get it rescheduled, that could take care of that issue, and then they could be more competitive with prices,\u201d Titus said.<\/p>\n

In Nevada, Wiegand said there\u2019s also been conversation about legislation that would allow the state to collect taxes on illicit marijuana sales. That wouldn\u2019t make the process legal. It would just give the Department of Taxation the ability to go after bad actors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it\u2019d actually end up being is tax evasion, because they\u2019re not collecting and reporting tax, and they\u2019re not turning it over to the state, and if they were it becomes easier to identify,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just another mechanism that could be used to level the playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Durrett\u2019s cannabis report in December made a similar recommendation, saying tax codes should be written broadly enough to capture legal and illegal sales. On top of additional revenue, the report states the changes would create a \u201cstrong disincentive for unlicensed behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

The industry is looking for any shot in the arm it can get. In the state\u2019s 2021 fiscal year, just over $1 billion in legal cannabis sales were made in Nevada, with Clark County accounting for $791 million of the total. Three years later, sales have fallen 17% across the state and 21% in the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe illicit market will always be able to undercut the regulated market,\u201d Wiegand said, mentioning the industry\u2019s high taxes. \u201cWe don\u2019t mind paying for it. It\u2019s what\u2019s required. But what I think the industry is looking for now is how can we better use those dollars to support the industry?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n