Nevada’s marijuana retailers sold million worth of the weed in their first four days of operation, setting the state’s budding recreational pot industry on a pace to achieve million in revenue before the year is out.
“We had a higher demand than everybody initially thought,” said Riana Durrett, direction of the Nevada Dispensary Association. “It shows this market really exists.”
Local media reported thousands of marijuana shoppers converging on the newly licensed outlets when sales commenced over the Fourth of July weekend, many waiting in lines for hours for their chance to legally purchase the drug.
It promises to be a boon for local governments, which are taxing sales at rates of 33 percent to 38 percent, including state and other local taxes.
Nevada voters approved recreational marijuana use in last November’s election, joining Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska in expanding is use beyond medicinal purposes.
Sales of the plant at medically licensed dispensaries was finalized by the Nevada legislature in May.
Selling and possessing marijuana is still a federal crime, and approbation at the state level is not without its opponents.
“We have to consider what we’re telling our kids, that we think living in an altered mental state is something you to do recreate,” said Scott Chipman, co-chairman of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana in Southern California. “We’re sending a horrible message, and we’re endangering people on the road and our children and teens.”
Nevada Assemblyman Ira Hansen, a Sparks Republican, called it “a huge mistake all the way around.”
“I don’t see how it benefits Las Vegas. I don’t see how people sitting around smoking pot is going to encourage them to do things that typical tourists do. The last thing we need is more impaired people here.”
