Nevada regulators have approved three more applications for marijuana consumption lounge licenses, including two concepts in the Las Vegas market.
The Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) on Tuesday unanimously approved applications from Deep Roots Harvest and Global Harmony, which operate Las Vegas cannabis stores, as well as KV Group in the southern Nevada town Pahrump.
Nevada regulators have now approved seven consumption spaces, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In June, the CCB granted the first three conditional licenses for such venues to:
- Cheyenne Medical in unincorporated Clark County.
- Common Sense Botanicals Nevada in Washoe Valley, between Carson City and Reno.
- Planet 13 in Las Vegas.
Also Tuesday, regulators loosened air-ventilation standards for marijuana consumption, which provided more clarity for operators to move forward with construction plans in one of the nation’s largest tourism markets.
The decision came after operators and other stakeholders raised concerns that the upfront investment and ongoing operational energy costs of running such ventilation systems could cost more than $100,000, rendering consumption areas economically unfeasible for most operators and a near impossibility for social equity licensees, cannabis insiders told MJBizDaily.
Some lounge operators had hoped to open their doors this summer, but timelines were derailed amid administrative setbacks, funding concerns and changing regulations.
When Nevada regulators approved consumption lounges a year ago, they agreed to issue up to 65 licenses.
Of those, roughly 40-45 licenses would be attached to existing cannabis shops.
Deep Roots Harvest indicated at the CCB meeting Tuesday that its lounge will be open by the end of March, the Review-Journal reported.
Despite some earlier projections that lounges were on pace to open in 2022, the only legal consumption lounge in Nevada is the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace located on tribal land about two blocks from downtown Las Vegas. (Full Story)