420 with CNW — LA Cannabis Consumption Lounges Face Delays in Opening
Las Vegas, a city that derives a significant portion of its annual revenue from tourism, is one of the many regions looking to tap into cannabis consumption lounges. However, it seems that industry stakeholders and consumers will have to wait a little longer before the city officially launches the consumption lounges.
More than a decade after America’s recreational cannabis industry started taking shape, the public consumption lounge segment has failed to make much headway.
Cannabis reform was always a controversial topic, and even though dozens of states now have either medical or recreational markets, cannabis still doesn’t enjoy 100% support. It is illegal at the federal level, and many local governments and municipalities still don’t allow cannabis-related trade within their spheres of influence.
Even so, stakeholders in several states are working to launch consumption lounges and corner a segment that could prove to be quite lucrative: cannabis tourism. It is becoming increasingly common for Americans in states without legal recreational cannabis markets to travel to states that allow adult marijuana use to indulge in the drug.
However, with most states banning public consumption of cannabis, these “cannabis tourists” often have no way of consuming cannabis unless they are friendly with a resident who could host them at their home.
Efforts to open cannabis consumption lounges in Nevada have been held back for months by limited funding, administrative hurdles, and evolving government regulations on smoke ventilation. Industry experts fear that these and other factors may hinder the launch of the marijuana consumption lounge segment to such a degree that only a few lounges may be open across the entire city by the end of the year.
Factors such as Nevada’s policies on indoor air quality coupled with the immense costs (up to hundreds of thousands of dollars) associated with installing and servicing approved air ventilation systems will likely lock out a large chunk of potential entrepreneurs. These costs would also make it borderline impossible for social equity licensees to gain a foothold in the market as they often come from economically underprivileged areas.
At the moment, the entire state of Nevada has just one legal consumption lounge; the site is located on tribal land and operated by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe.
Fortunately, it seems that regulators are willing to find a compromise on air quality regulations. According to Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) Executive Director Tyler Klimas, state regulators know they will have to tweak regulations to allow the launch of a successful consumption lounge program.
This delay to open consumption lounges doesn’t only affect companies that directly deal with the plant. Ancillary entities such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) could also lose out on business since the boom in consumption would have triggered demand for extra cultivation equipment.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer
Las Vegas, a city that derives a significant portion of its annual revenue from tourism, is one of the many regions looking to tap into cannabis consumption lounges. However, it seems that industry stakeholders and consumers will have to wait a little longer before the city officially launches the consumption lounges.
More than a decade after America’s recreational cannabis industry started taking shape, the public consumption lounge segment has failed to make much headway.
Cannabis reform was always a controversial topic, and even though dozens of states now have either medical or recreational markets, cannabis still doesn’t enjoy 100% support. It is illegal at the federal level, and many local governments and municipalities still don’t allow cannabis-related trade within their spheres of influence.
Even so, stakeholders in several states are working to launch consumption lounges and corner a segment that could prove to be quite lucrative: cannabis tourism. It is becoming increasingly common for Americans in states without legal recreational cannabis markets to travel to states that allow adult marijuana use to indulge in the drug.
However, with most states banning public consumption of cannabis, these “cannabis tourists” often have no way of consuming cannabis unless they are friendly with a resident who could host them at their home.
Efforts to open cannabis consumption lounges in Nevada have been held back for months by limited funding, administrative hurdles, and evolving government regulations on smoke ventilation. Industry experts fear that these and other factors may hinder the launch of the marijuana consumption lounge segment to such a degree that only a few lounges may be open across the entire city by the end of the year.
Factors such as Nevada’s policies on indoor air quality coupled with the immense costs (up to hundreds of thousands of dollars) associated with installing and servicing approved air ventilation systems will likely lock out a large chunk of potential entrepreneurs. These costs would also make it borderline impossible for social equity licensees to gain a foothold in the market as they often come from economically underprivileged areas.
At the moment, the entire state of Nevada has just one legal consumption lounge; the site is located on tribal land and operated by the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe.
Fortunately, it seems that regulators are willing to find a compromise on air quality regulations. According to Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) Executive Director Tyler Klimas, state regulators know they will have to tweak regulations to allow the launch of a successful consumption lounge program.
This delay to open consumption lounges doesn’t only affect companies that directly deal with the plant. Ancillary entities such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) could also lose out on business since the boom in consumption would have triggered demand for extra cultivation equipment.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer
