Nevada, home to the gaming capital of the world Las Vegas, has announced the approval of sixty licences for the opening of cannabis lounges.
The move aims to capitalise on the states bustling tourism industry and is expected that the first lounges will open before the end of the year.
With the licence coming into effect, it will remove the long held prohibition of cannabis only being allowed to be consumed on private property.
Of the sixty licences available in Nevada, between 40-45 would be given to marijuana dispensaries, with the other twenty given to independent cannabis lounges. Ten of those licences will be available at a discount for people who have suffered from the war on drugs and have a non-violent marijuana conviction against their name.
There are criticisms however of the plan due to the high cost. Potential license holders will have to show that they have approximately $200,000 in liquid assets in order to obtain a licence.
Restrictions will also be placed on the premises. No alcohol will allowed to be served, consumption of cannabis must not be visible to the public and the lounge must have a strategy to ensure no impaired driving from consumers.
Despite this, the current cannabis market in Nevada continues to boom with the past fiscal year which ended June 2021 showing sales of cannabis reaching $1 billion.
Nevada will be following in the footsteps of California, Colorado and Massachusetts in being a state to allow consumption of cannabis in lounges and will be aiming to capitalise on the 209 million worldwide users of cannabis.
