Cannabis lounges are coming to Nevada; what will they look like?
Cannabis consumption lounges are getting closer to making their debut in the Las Vegas area after a lengthy rule-setting process.
Clark County Commissioners will vote Tuesday on an ordinance allowing the lounges to operate across the valley.
The vote comes nearly three weeks after the state Cannabis Compliance Board, which regulates the marijuana industry in Nevada, announced it had issued 40 prospective lounge licenses.
Regulators now say the first lounges are likely to open next year, possibly in the summer. In June, regulators said they hoped the first lounge would open before the end of this year.
Originally, it was anticipated the first lounges could open before the end of last year.
It is legal to consume cannabis products in Las Vegas, but it’s illegal to consume them in public places, including hotel rooms and outside on the Strip.
“I honestly view cannabis as part of the Las Vegas experience for tourism,” Commissioner Tick Segerblom said. “You can come here, you can buy it, but you can’t use it, which I think is crazy.”
The sole cannabis lounge in the Las Vegas Valley is the tasting room operated by the Paiute Tribe. The room is located on tribal land just north of downtown Las Vegas.
In 2016, voters in Nevada approved Question 2, which paved the way for legal recreational marijuana in the state.
But the question of where tourists should consume cannabis has plagued the burgeoning industry.
In August, Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick questioned whether Clark County was ready for consumption lounges during a commission workshop.
“If we’re going to do this, we have to do it right, and I’m not willing to cut corners,” she said.
Tiana Bohner, a spokeswoman for the Cannabis Compliance Board, said prospective consumption lounge licensees will have 120 days from Nov. 30 — the day licenses were awarded — to submit a security plan, among other requirements, for review. The plans must follow state and local rules.
Plans also must outline protocols to deter customers from driving under the influence and prevent the distribution of unlicensed products in lounges.
Licensees will only be able to open lounges after they pass a final safety inspection, receive final licensure and are approved by the board at a public meeting, Bohner said.
For Oasis Cannabis, plans are already in motion for a lounge at its location at 1800 S. Industrial Road in Las Vegas.
Andrew Glashow, CEO of Oasis’ parent company, Serenity Wellness LLC, which received a lounge license, said they have been “really studying the rules” and will have a firm plan to present to the board soon.
“We’ll have a tight security plan in place,” Glashow said. “There’s going to have to be a sense of responsibility placed on the business owner but also accountability on the part of the customer. We’re still figuring out what the right method and message is.”
Glashow said the lounge at Oasis will likely include a kitchen so it can sell cannabis-infused edibles and drinks.
The final plan will likely be turned in to the compliance board in January or February, he said.
“What we don’t want is to be that kind of dive bar place where somebody has a beer, a shot, then they’re on the road again,” Glashow said. “I don’t want somebody to come into my place and do a bong hit or smoke a joint, then be out of there in 10 minutes.”
Exactly what the first lounges will look and feel like is largely still a mystery.
Jon Marshall, chief operating officer of Mesquite-based Deep Roots Harvest, said the company plans to initially have an outdoor patio as a lounge at its dispensary on Blue Diamond Road in Las Vegas.
Christopher LaPorte, founder of Reset Vegas, a local hospitality company, has partnered with Thrive Cannabis Marketplace, another provisional license-holder, to help create its lounge.
“We want a venue that’s food and beverage, entertainment, nightlife and cannabis. The way to make that happen is it has to be a dope spot with dope music and dope people where, yes, people can smoke dope,” LaPorte said “Our lounges are going to have a Las Vegas flare.”
LaPorte stopped short of criticizing the long process of buttoning up the lounge regulations.
“This process started a long time ago,” he said. “It’s very clear we’re close to the finish line now. I’m not necessarily going to complain about the process. What’s happening is there are a lot of people trying to figure out the best solutions. We want things to be 100% right when these lounges come out of the gate, too. We’ve put years into this process, so a couple of more months of conversation isn’t going to hurt.”
Matt Darin, CEO of Curaleaf, another Nevada lounge license winner, said the opening of the first lounges will be a “much-needed development” for Las Vegas.”
Curaleaf entered the Nevada market six years ago as a medical operator, though it eventually transitioned to the recreational market.
“As one of the nightlife and hospitality epicenters of the country, we expect Nevada to serve as a guide for other markets looking to welcome brick-and-mortar gathering spaces for cannabis enthusiasts,” Darin said. “Consumption lounges help normalize the cannabis experience and provide a safe, welcoming environment for people to enjoy and learn more about the plant.”
