Nevada Marijuana: State Allowed To Give Licenses To Non-Booze Wholesalers

CARSON CITY, NV — Listen up Nevada pot seekers: A judge has cleared the way for the state to give out marijuana licenses to businesses that aren't alcohol wholesalers in order to keep up with a growing demand for the budding market.

Carson City District Judge James Russell lifted a temporary restraining order Thursday that required the state to give alcohol wholesalers exclusive rights to sell marijuana for a year and a half unless the wholesalers failed to keep up with demand.

Russell said there's overwhelming proof that the wholesalers can't meet the needs of dozens of recreational pot dispensaries from Las Vegas to Reno. He said a group of alcohol distributors that sued over the issue can appeal to the state Tax Commission. He said he doesn't have the power to overrule the authority of the state agency that concluded there's an insufficient number of alcohol businesses to handle the job. (For more information on this and other Nevada stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Nevada's Taxation Department says the protracted legal battle has created a delivery bottleneck that's undermining an otherwise robust marijuana industry and the state revenue that comes with it.

Legal sales started with a bang July 1. But Tax Director Deonne Contine says the tiny distribution network's inability to keep pace with demand is forcing up prices and sending buyers back to the black market.

She says it's also jeopardizing worker safety at dispensaries forced to stockpile supplies and huge amounts of cash to accommodate erratic deliveries.

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