Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Nevada lawmakers still considering bill allowing marijuana lounges

Pot lounges

Jeff Chiu / AP

Customers smoke marijuana in the smoking lounge at Barbary Coast Dispensary in San Francisco. Las Vegas is considering an ordinance to allow marijuana lounges.

CARSON CITY — State lawmakers are still considering a bill to legalize marijuana consumption lounges.

While cannabis is legal in Nevada, it can only be smoked on private property, though the law is often ignored.

Lawmakers have been trying to pass licensing requirements for marijuana lounges since the 2017 legislative session, the first after voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2016.

“Ever since Nevada voters approved adult-use cannabis, we struggled with the idea of public consumption,” said Assemblyman Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas.

Yeager is the sponsor of Assembly Bill 341, which passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee in early April.

“With the advent of consumption lounges, we can expect Nevada to become even more attractive for cannabis aficionados, and we can expect that lounges will continue to erode the black market, which means more revenue for the state,” Yeager said.

The bill, with an amendment Yeager introduced Saturday, would allow for two types of lounges: those attached to dispensaries and independent lounges that would not be able to sell cannabis on site. A dispensary owner would not also be able to own an independent lounge.

The bill would allow an equal number of each type of lounge, with the state Cannabis Compliance Board expected to initially issue a total of 40 licenses.

There are nine days left in the legislative session to pass a bill.