Measures aim to further Nevada’s transition to recreational pot sales

By Chris Kudialis

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | 7:45 p.m.

Four bills discussed in a Senate committee on Tuesday proposed advanced framework for the voter-approved recreational marijuana program in Nevada. The bills featured restrictions on edible packaging, employee protections for pot-using Nevada workers, a greater number of potential licenses for local municipalities and the transition of regulatory overseers.

“Our medical system is the talk of the country and the world, and we need to do what’s required for our recreational program to be the same,” said state Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, who was a primary sponsor on all four bills and also chaired the Senate Committee on Judiciary that heard them Tuesday. “We need to have one system and one set of inventory so everybody’s on the same page.”

Senate Bill 344, a co-sponsored by state Sen. Patricia Farley, I-Las Vegas, would prevent marijuana edibles from being branded as candy, having the shape of fruit or balloons or resemble either mascots or cartoon characters. Edibles would also have to be sold in nontransparent packaging with child-proof sealing, as to slightly hide the product and prevent children from accessing it, Farley said.

While Farley said license holders in Nevada’s medical marijuana industry have been opposed to SB344 because they see the bill’s regulations as too strict, the plant should be regulated like similar substances that are legal. Products resembling candy are also banned for alcohol and tobacco companies.

“Tobacco and alcohol and prescription medication do not come in the form of candy, they’re not packaged that way or sold in edibles,” Farley said. “I think we need to draw a stricter line in the sand because now we’re taking marijuana and trying to regulate it like alcohol and tobacco.”

SB344 also mandates that packaged edibles say how much marijuana is in the edibles. No marijuana product can contain more than 25mg of active ingredient THC per serving, according to the bill.

Senate Bills 341, 374 and 329 were also heard during the nearly two-hour hearing on Tuesday, which saw a total of nearly two dozen lobbyists speak in favor, in opposition or neutrally about the four bills. Seven Nevada citizens sounded off during the public comment segments.

SB341 would allow for municipalities to request additional state certifications in addition to those allotted though Ballot Question 2 and fund research for higher education institutions in Nevada to conduct research on the plant. SB374 would protect employees advocating in favor of marijuana from being punished or fired. SB329, whose first half only was heard Tuesday, would move Nevada’s medical marijuana program from the Department of Health and Human Services to join the proposed recreational program under the Department of Taxation.