Nevada regulators grant final approval for cannabis lounges

Regulators in Nevada on Tuesday gave final approval for cannabis consumption lounges, paving the way for the facilities to potentially open by the end of the year.

The state’s Cannabis Compliance Board voted on a set of regulations for the lounges, a key regulatory hurdle in a process that took nearly a year.

According to local news outlet KLAS, some of the regulations approved by the board on Tuesday included “safety protocols in lounges, staff training requirements and location requirements for the lounges,” such as “specific distances from places like schools and community facilities.”

It was last August when the Nevada legislature approved funding requested by the Cannabis Compliance Board to hire staff and provide other assistance in regulating the lounges.

The Nevada Independent reported at the time that a Legislative Committee “unanimously approved three items that the [Cannabis Compliance Board] with funds to hire more staff, work with the attorney general’s office to draft regulations, and channel cannabis revenues to fund education.”

Tyler Klimas, the executive director of the Cannabis Compliance Board, told the Legislative Committee at the time that the additional funding helped put the state on track to open the lounges “at least in the first quarter or first half of 2022.”

“Not just to see the lounges open, but in the first part we would start realizing that revenue,” he said at the time.

Tuesday’s vote appears to keep that timeline intact, with the Las Vegas Sun reporting that the board said the “first state-sanctioned cannabis consumption lounges could potentially open before the end of the year.”

The Cannabis Compliance Board has been a long time coming, noting in a press release on Tuesday that it has held 15 public meetings to discuss possible regulations for the consumption lounges.

The board also provided details for potential lounge owners.

“In addition to outlining the licensing and operation of consumption lounges, the regulations passed today lay the groundwork for greater involvement in Nevada’s cannabis industry,” the board said in the release. “All applicants must submit a diversity plan that outlines actionable steps and goals for meaningful inclusion. Additionally, half of the licenses for independent consumption lounges must be awarded to social justice applicants in the first round.”

“Prior to an open licensing period, the [Cannabis Compliance Board] plans to launch tools and resources including worksheets, video tutorials and live webinars to ensure interested parties have access to the same information and can successfully submit an application. “The CCB expects to open the first round of licensing for consumption lounges in the fall, allowing the first consumption lounges to open as early as the end of the year.”

Local news agency KLAS reported that the Cannabis Compliance Board “expects 40 to 45 applications for lounges attached to retail outlets and 20 independent outlets, 10 of which will go to social justice applicants.”

“What we are looking for is the impact of drug policies on individuals and members of the community. We look at the poverty line, we look at all past convictions for cannabis,” Klimas said, as quoted by KLAS.

Nevada legalized adult recreational use of cannabis back in 2017, but use was restricted to individuals’ homes. Of course, that hasn’t stopped people from smoking in public. As The Street said, “While it’s not technically legal to light a joint while walking the Strip, the aroma in the air suggests it happens fairly regularly.”