Commissioners finish Day 1 considering marijuana dispensary applications

By Conor Shine

Published Wednesday, June 4, 2014 | noon

Updated Wednesday, June 4, 2014 | 3:41 p.m.

Reefer madness was in full effect at the Clark County Government Center, as county commissioners at noon kicked off three days of hearings to select licensees for medical marijuana dispensaries.

The Clark County Commission will review 18 applications for dispensaries today and 63 more Thursday and Friday. Dispensaries are where medical marijuana will be sold to patients.

Applicants will have six minutes each to make their case, with additional time for public comment and questions from commissioners.

On Friday, commissioners will vote on their preferred applicants and forward 18 to the state for final approval.

The commission plans to review applications for marijuana growing and processing facilities later this month.

Follow along here for live coverage of the hearings:

3 p.m. — The first day of medical marijuana hearings has come to an end, after 17 presentations by prospective dispensary owners.

The hearings went off without much incident. Applicants were held to a six-minute time limit for their presentations, and there was little opposition from neighbors.

With confusion swirling in the days leading up to the hearing, one applicant said the day ran so smoothly that it was “almost anticlimactic.”

The hearings restart at 8 a.m. tomorrow at the Clark County Government Center. The commission will consider 47 applications for dispensaries located in Paradise Township.

1:45 p.m. — Clark County commissioners have moved at a brisk pace through their first 10 dispensary applications, taking less than two hours to review them.

Discussion has ranged from the financial resources of the group’s applying for licenses to how close dispensaries would be to bus routes.

Commissioners have been judicious with their questions, asking mostly for clarifications on applications. Commissioners heard full presentations in private meetings with applicants over the last week.

The dispensaries have received little resistance from neighbors. One proposed dispensary on Maryland Parkway and Vegas Valley Drive drew opposition from the homeowners association of nearby Las Vegas Country Club Estates.

A representative for the homeowners association said neighbors were concerned about traffic from the dispensary and that marijuana is still illegal under federal law.