Nevada Approves 61 More Cannabis Dispensaries

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]N[/dropcap]evada issued 61 additional provisional cannabis retail licenses, which would nearly double the number of stores serving the state’s cannabis market. According to the state’s Department of Taxation, 31 of the licenses are for cannabis businesses in Clark County.

Currently, there are 65 stores in Nevada licensed to sell cannabis, 48 of which are located in Clark County (the same county as Las Vegas). Some of the 61 new licenses were awarded to applicants from 12 counties that currently do not have cannabis dispensaries. Las Vegas remains a top target for cannabis companies due to the large number of tourists that visit the city.

“We issued a number of state-level licenses in counties that have thus far declined to allow marijuana establishments,” said spokeswoman Stephanie Klapstein of the Nevada Department of Taxation. “There’s a chance some of those licenses will not ultimately result in operational retail marijuana stores.”

Those awarded a provisional  license have one year to obtain local approvals and pass a final inspection from the tax agency before they are issued a final license. The Department of Taxation declined to announce the winners of the licenses until final inspections are complete. However, some companies announced that they had been awarded licenses.

Green Growth Brands and GreenMart NLV, both publicly  announced that they were awarded licenses. Shane Terry, CEO of TapRoot Holdings, confirmed his firm was awarded seven licenses.

“We certainly have the intention of opening up all seven locations,” Terry said. “With the addition of these new licenses we are now vertically integrated, as previously TapRoot only had cultivation and production here in Nevada.”

Not all were happy to see a few companies receive many licenses. The Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Association argued that distributions should have been more widespread.

In the first full year of legal recreational sales, Nevada dispensaries totaled just under $425 million in sales, resulting in $69.8 million in tax revenue for the state.