Nevada formally become the fifth state with recreational marijuana sales … and first in Trump era
A sense of jubilee was in the air midnight Saturday, and so too was the occasional whiff of Nevada’s newest cash crop. Hundreds of Nevadans stood in line at midnight and throughout the day Saturday as Nevada became the fifth state in the U.S. to have legal recreational marijuana sales.
“Right at 12:01 a.m., they already have my transaction ready so that I can be the first in the state,” said Todd Weatherhead, the first person in line at Sierra Wellness Connection in Reno. Weatherhead, a cultivation and production manager at a Reno cultivation facility, High Sierra Holistics, had been waiting in line since 4:20 p.m. Friday, he said….
Inside the dispensaries, “budtenders” took wads of cash in exchange for tightly sealed, opaque white Ziploc bags containing everything from joints to gummies to oils. As eager patrons jaunted in one by one, Sierra Wellness started running out of $1 bills, requiring a visit to a men’s club down the street for more change….
Although Nevadan voters approved Question 2 to legalize recreational marijuana in November, voters twice before had proved themselves not quite ready. Nevada had the chance to become the first state to legalize recreational marijuana in 2002, but voters turned it down. In 2006, they repeated themselves. In November, voters turned the tables and approved Question 2, allowing anyone 21 and older with a valid ID to buy up to an ounce of pot and one-eighth of an ounce of concentrate.
In Reno, four dispensaries — including Sierra Wellness, Blüm, The Dispensary and Mynt — are now selling recreational marijuana, and up to 40 statewide are estimated to have their licenses, the Associated Press reported. All of the Reno dispensaries had lines around the building Saturday, throughout the day. “We are the new Amsterdam. We are the new Denver. Nevada is going to be the gold standard for marijuana starting at midnight,” said Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, who is known among industry leaders as the “Cannabis King” or the “Godfather of marijuana” in Nevada.
Segerblom made the first purchase at The Source dispensary at a strip mall in Las Vegas, according to the Associated Press. Segerblom was a key proponent of Nevada executing what is now the fastest turnaround between a vote and sales, faster than the other states that voted to legalize in November. California, Maine and Massachusetts will be following suit soon, in the footsteps of Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, but Nevada could see the most hefty out-of-the-gate sales of any state so far.
The millions of tourists who visit Reno, Las Vegas and other Nevada cities every year are expected to account for about two-thirds of the purchases.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has budgeted $69 million in revenue from the industry in the next two years. Money from the 15 percent cultivation tax on all marijuana product in the state will go toward schools, and the 10 percent tax collected from recreational marijuana upon sale will go toward the state’s rainy day fund….
Reno’s Alisha White, 38, stood in the line at Sierra Wellness to show moral support for her brother and daughter even though she doesn’t smoke. “My daughter started to have seizures two years ago,” she said. “I gave her some marijuana, and it helped her. “Marijuana helps people in pain. I’ve watched it change people’s lives.”
Many of the middle-aged attendees who stood in line on Saturday feel like they’ve waited forever for July 1. “You always had to hide it,” said Randy McCuster, 60, who’s been smoking since the age of 13. “I smoked pot in the basement and it would come up out of the sink and my mom would stomp on the floor… She was something.”