Las Vegas Likely to Sprout Cannabis Lounges Before 2023, Public Smoking Remains Illegal

Posted on: August 1, 2022, 10:38h. 

Last updated on: August 1, 2022, 11:58h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

Tourists who legally purchase marijuana in Las Vegas will finally have a legal place to consume it. In June, Nevada’s Cannabis Compliance Board (NCCB) voted to approve regulations for cannabis lounges to operate in the state. The first are expected to come online before 2023.

NuWu Cannabis Marketplace dispensary.
Las Vegas’ first, and still only, legal cannabis consumption lounge is The Vegas Tasting Room at the NuWu Cannabis Marketplace dispensary, five miles north of The Strip. It has circumvented regulatory approval by being located on tribal land. (Image: nuwu.vegas)

Cannabis lounges, also known as cannabis cafes, provide users with a legal and safe place to smoke or vape while enjoying a social experience analogous to cigar bars. The Nevada legislature legalized them in 2019, but the NCCB had to approve their regulations before they open.

Currently, 20 legally licensed dispensaries operate just to the north of the Las Vegas Strip. (They are banned in the tourist corridor.) These include Planet 13, the world’s largest dispensary at 40,000 square feet, and many with drive-thrus that distribute dried leaves, edibles, and vaping cartridges.

Off Limits to Tourists

But the overwhelming majority of tourists who buy marijuana legally in these stores eventually find themselves forced to use it illegally.

Various laws prevent smoking or vaping on the street, in hotel rooms, or in cars. And even tourists who obey these laws go on to break others since driving their unused marijuana across state lines or taking it on an airplane are both federal offenses. (Cannabis is still listed as a Schedule 1 drug according to Section 812 of Title 21 of the U.S. Code.)

“Visitors technically having nowhere they’re allowed to consume their products has been a frustrating Catch-22 for years,” Juliana Whitney, CEO of Cann Strategy, a consulting firm for Las Vegas businesses seeking to open in this new and often confusing regulatory landscape, told Casino.org.

Ignorance is Bliss

Currently, a private residence is one of only two types of places marijuana can be used in the Las Vegas Valley. But unless tourists stay at an Airbnb or know a local, they don’t have a private residence handy.

According to Whitney, most tourists either smoke openly on the Strip or in the parking garages of their hotels.

People don’t get in trouble for it that frequently,” Whitney told Casino.org. “Police can issue fines or arrest people for it.  But you don’t hear about that too much because it’s decriminalized, so they don’t actively pursue it.

Whitney stated that most tourists are unaware that public consumption isn’t legal “because they figure if they can freely purchase the products in beautiful stores, that consuming those products must be equally as acceptable.”

The only other location currently legal for use is The Vegas Tasting Room cannabis lounge at NuWu Cannabis Marketplace, located five miles north of The Strip. This dispensary opened the lounge in 2019, availing itself of a regulatory loophole because it sits on tribal land.

Lounging Around

According to the NCCB, Las Vegas will eventually sport 40 lounges, following a lottery to determine which would be-licensees get approved. Twenty will be opened inside dispensaries, and 20 independently. Half of the independent lounge licenses will be awarded to “social equity” applicants.

Consumption of cannabis at the new lounges will be limited to single servings of 3.5 grams of “usable cannabis,” according to the board, and unused cannabis may not be removed from the cannabis lounge.

While Whitney still finds these rules somewhat restrictive, she said, “I’m happy that at least tourists will have an option to not break the law.”