Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Pot dispensaries come with big price tags, lots of rules

If the expense of opening a medical marijuana facility — dispensary, cultivation or production facility, or testing lab — doesn’t scare away investors, 28 pages of Las Vegas regulations might.

The city’s Recommending Committee will review a bill Monday that proposes licensing regulations, fees and standards for medical marijuana businesses.

Last week, the City Council approved zoning regulations for those businesses.

Here are some highlights of the bill being considered Monday.

Annual license fees:

• Cultivation facility: $20,000 for first 5,000 square feet; $10,000 for each additional 5,000 square feet.

• Edible marijuana products facility: $25,000.

• Dispensary: $75,000

• Testing lab: $10,000.

Some other regulations:

• Not for kids: Products can’t be made or packaged in ways that might attract minors (remember candy cigarettes?). Same goes for advertising.

• Advertising restricted largely to newspapers, magazines or other periodicals, as well as online media. No ads on vehicles, radio, video or via handbills.

• No product use within the facility.

• Round-the-clock surveillance with a live feed available to Metro Police.

• Tax reports, business plans, resumes, accounting plans and financial histories of each owner, in addition to copies of all contracts for consulting, management and leases required to obtain a special-use permit.

• The city can deny an application if it feels a business is “not in the best interest of the welfare, health or safety of the city.”

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