03 June, 2017
This is due to state officials recently passing rules that allow for an early start to recreational marijuana sales, which were legalized by voters past year.
Carson City District Judge James Wilson ruled the department failed to follow the proper regulatory procedures in making a determination last month that the medical dispensaries themselves could apply for distribution licenses because there wasn't enough interest among the liquor wholesalers. The complaint alleges the Department of Taxation never had a public meeting indicating how many distributors would be needed to meet the demand.
"The statute clearly gives a priority and exclusive license to alcohol distributors, in order to promote the goal of regulating marijuana similar to alcohol", Wilson wrote in an 8-page opinion.
The ballot initiative legalizing pot in Nevada gave liquor distributors first dibs on licenses to act as middle-men between marijuana growers, producers and retailers.
An attorney representing the Independent Alcohol Distributors of Nevada, Sam McMullen, told the Las Vegas Review Journal that the group's intent was not to delay retail marijuana sales. The Judge's ruling is likely to delay the July 1st launch. "We don't want to slow this down inordinately", McMullen said. The department said it only a handful of dealers showed lukewarm interest, and no concrete business plans were submitted for how those companies would distribute marijuana. Operating under its new production license, PNTV's Green Leaf Farms Holdings, LLC (Green Leaf) subsidiary successfully produced and sold its first batch of rosin to a local dispensary, paid its taxes, and filed all necessary paperwork and fees in time to qualify for recreational cultivation and production licenses.
