Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Nevada marijuana dispensary owner says best customers skew older

Some of the best customers of legal recreational marijuana in Nevada are older buyers, said well-known Reno cannabis investor Fernando Leal, owner of marijuana dispensaries in Reno and Carson City.

“Sixty percent of our customers are over the age of 40, and these are people that may have dabbled with marijuana in school or previously and now are really trying to study and understand the benefits of cannabis,” Leal said Friday on Nevada Newsmakers.

Many older customers buy marijuana for health issues rather than to just get high, Leal said. “(I am) an absolute advocate and believer that there are a lot of purposes,” Leal said of marijuana, adding he was skeptical about pot when hew was first approached about investing.

“I didn’t understand. I thought medicinal and cannabis was an oxymoron, and that was 2 1/2 years ago,” he said. “Now, we see well over 1,000 people (daily) at our two dispensaries. And I think recreational access has done more for medicinal use than the medical card program could have ever hoped to do.”