Tuesday, June 17, 2014 | 2 a.m.
After handing out 18 permits to sell medical marijuana earlier this month, Clark County Commissioners today are tackling one of the biggest remaining questions about the budding industry:
Who can grow pot and where can they do it?
At a public hearing today, commissioners will consider 64 applications from businesses wanting to grow medical marijuana.
All cultivation facilities must be located in warehouses in industrial zones. No outdoor grows are permitted and the facilities must be at least 660 feet from residential neighborhoods.
The proposed growing sites range from 3,000 square feet (the size of a large house) up to 100,000 square feet (the size of a Wal-Mart).
Marijuana grown at the facilities will be sold wholesale to dispensaries that in turn sell to patients. Marijuana can also be sold to production facilities that make cannabis-infused foods, drinks and oils for retail at dispensaries.
Also today, commissioners will also consider 42 applications to run production facilities and six applications to operate quality control testing laboratories.
Unlike dispensaries, which are limited under state law, there is no cap on how many production and cultivation facilities commissioners can approve.
Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak said it’s hard to estimate how many applications will make it through.
“It’s kind of open,” he said. “It’s up to the commissioners on how many to move forward.”
Sisolak said he’d rather approve more cultivation facilities than risk having too few.
“If there’s not adequate product the price would be higher (for patients),” he said.
Businesses that receive county approval must still complete a separate state licensing process that will start in August.
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