It's not easy being green — especially at CES, the world's largest consumer electronics convention. Marijuana tech companies are grumbling about how difficult it is to participate in CES 2019 because organizers will not allow them to exhibit.

"We’re not allowed on the showroom floor, and it’s apparently because [organizers] say they haven’t created a category for cannabis vaporizers yet," says Jeff Brown, vice president of public policy and communications at PAX Labs, an electronic vaporizer company. 

When people go to Las Vegas, they expect to lose money whether it's through gambling or restaurants or clubs or anything else the city offers. But one person decided their trip to Vegas was not complete without dropping five figures on a blunt, writes Joseph Misulonas. 

Marijuana companies in Nevada submitted more than 450 applications for five dozen new dispensary licenses.

More than half of the licenses went out to just a small handful of companies creating some discontent among businesses who say they were left out.

The brewing controversy has spawned a lawsuit.

The parent company of Planet 13 filed a lawsuit last week challenging the results of the state's licensing process for five dozen new dispensaries.

Nevada's coveted marijuana dispensary licenses are hard to get. There are 63 licensed dispensaries in the Silver State and state regulators have issued 61 more conditional licenses to open up more dispensaries in the next year.

Sahara Wellness owner Brenda Gunsallus landed one of them.

A few cannabis companies are reaping riches after the latest Nevada dispensary licensing round.

Green Growth Brands and TapRoots Holding have each been awarded seven licenses to operate in the state while GreenMart NLV took home four.

This month Nevada awarded 61 conditional recreational dispensary licenses, including 31 in Clark County. Currently, there are 65 dispensaries operating in the state.

The Nevada Department of Taxation, which oversees the industry, declined to name the awardees until they receive a final state license after inspection. That could take up to a year.

Green Growth and GreenMart, which are both publicly traded, issued statements announcing their awards. TapRoots CEO Shane Terry confirmed by email his firm received seven licenses.

According to the Department of Taxation, retail and medical marijuana sales for Nevada in the first quarter of the 2019 fiscal year were $146.7 million.

July and August 2018 both had sales of over $48 million. September had $49.4 million in sales.

Of all the total sales, $23.48 million dollars were collected for taxes. More than $11 million will go towards funding for Nevada schools. Roughly $12.5 million will go to the state Rainy Day Fund.

The 2018 fiscal year saw $529 million in taxable sales, nearly $70 million was collected in tax revenue.

The cousins from New Jersey shared a studio apartment in downtown Las Vegas as they worked to make their mark in the marijuana industry. There was no wall separating where Jacob Silverstein slept on a small bed and where Zachary LoBello lay on a futon.

One night earlier this year, while eating downtown with a potential client, the two realized they had only $12 to their names before a deposit was set to be made the next morning. Instead of ordering off the menu like the client, the two split a small basket of $7.99 chicken wings, which left enough for a tip after tax.

“We just told them we weren’t that hungry,” LoBello said. “There were a lot of situations where we had to compromise.”

The sacrifices have worked.

This Thanksgiving, some people rushed to stores to pick up cannabis infused ingredients to enjoy their traditional meal in a different way.

"Always ask your guests if they're Ok with the ingestion," said David Rivera, store manager of Essence Las Vegas. "You should never give someone a false high," added Rivera.

Rivera says cannabis infused ingredients such as olive oil and butter have been in high demand.

The butter has been the hottest seller and is used in nearly every bit of the traditional holiday menu, according to Rivera.

"Instead of using the full serving of regular butter, you would use half of your regular butter and then use the rest with the infused butter," said Rivera.

It's been in the works for more than a year, but a proposed "cannabis campus" is taking shape now that the principals have closed escrow on the former South Yuba Club property in Nevada City.

The two buildings in the 500 block of Searls Avenue, which have been vacant since the health club facility closed in November 2017, will house up to six businesses and will join Elevation 2477', the county's first medical marijuana dispensary, to flesh out a "cutting-edge multi-tenant cannabis campus," said project manager Maria Herrera.

One step into the annual Marijuana Business Conference in Las Vegas and the massive growth of the industry is evident.

Small booths that used to squeeze into the Rio as recently as 2016 have tripled in size, offering CES-style presentations at the conference’s new home, the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Many of last year’s first-time show attendees are now among the record 1,100 exhibitors from 60 countries, having found their business niche in the exploding international market.

The convention, which just two years ago welcomed 10,000 industry members from across the world, is boasting more than 25,000 attendees this week. The three-day convention began Wednesday and concluded Friday.

The only cannabis dispensary in Nevada County could be switching from medical-only to adult-use sales by the beginning of next year.

Months of emotional debate had marked Nevada City's decision last year to allow for the establishment, permitting and regulation of medical-only cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, distributing and testing laboratory businesses.

The city awarded its only dispensary permit to Elevation 2477' in February. But after the dispensary opened in August, its owners found they were turning away two-thirds of their potential customers because they did not have a medical marijuana recommendation. Dispensary co-owner Daniel Batchelor told the city council he estimated the city was losing $100,000 in tax revenue.