Sunday, July 1, 2018 | 7:55 a.m.
The line at Reef Dispensary didn’t stretch around the perimeter of the building Sunday morning like it did a year ago for the launch of recreational marijuana sales in Nevada. But a crowd of about 150 marijuana shoppers, several food trucks and a live DJ still made for a rowdy celebration outside one of the valley’s largest legal pot stores.
State Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, in a brief speech to customers on hand touted the more than $55 million raised in state tax revenue as a sign of the industry’s success. Segerblom said attracting more tourists to the industry would be key to legal marijuana’s expansion in Nevada during the next 12 months.
“It’s mostly locals now,” he said. “We can definitely keep growing.”
One marijuana-shopping tourist on hand, Dale Wilson of Vancouver, British Columbia, said his first-ever trip to Las Vegas was coordinated to coincide with today’s recreational pot anniversary. Standing with a bag of several marijuana pre-rolls, he also enjoyed the fireworks display overhead, put on by the dispensary.
Reef spokesman Mike Pizzo acknowledged crowds were smaller than last year during the kickoff of legal recreational pot sales.
Reef, one of the valley’s largest dispensaries, was one of few pot stores to celebrate the July 1 anniversary with an event. Some other dispensaries offered discount on products, as did Reef.
Armen Yemenidjian of Essence Dispensary said his store sold ounces of marijuana for $150 to commemorate the day, about half the going rate for the legal maximum purchase of marijuana flower in Nevada. The+Source Dispensary also offered “freedom” specials to celebrate pot’s legalization.
