Pubdate: Tue, 11 Jul 2017
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2017 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact: P.O. Box 1909, Seattle, WA 98111-1909
Website: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Author: Scott Sonner

SOME NEVADA POT RETAILERS 'RUNNING ON FUMES'

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Most of Nevada's recreational marijuana retailers
are optimistic an emergency regulation that state officials are
expected to approve will help keep them from running out of pot
supplies, but some are "running on fumes," an industry official said
Tuesday.

The State Tax Commission is scheduled to vote Thursday on an emergency
measure Gov. Brian Sandoval endorsed late last week in an effort to
allow the state to issue pot distribution licenses currently banned by
a court order.

Nevada Tax Department spokeswoman Stephanie Klapstein said some of the
47 licensed retailers have reported twice as much business as they
anticipated since recreational sales began July 1, and many fear their
shelves soon will be empty.

Nevada Dispensary Association President Andrew Jolley said Tuesday
most stores are "still doing OK in terms of supply."

"But there are some that are obviously concerned given that we are 10
days into retail sales without being resupplied," Jolley said. "I have
heard of some dispensaries running on fumes, if you will."

A legal battle over distribution of pot for recreational use threatens
to jeopardize the flow of supplies from growers and manufacturers to
retailers in the coming weeks.

The ballot measure voters approved in November legalizing the sales
dictates that licensed alcohol wholesalers have the exclusive rights
to pot distribution licenses for 18 months. But no alcohol wholesalers
have completed the licensing process.

Before recreational sales began July 1, most dispensaries selling
medical marijuana were authorized to serve as their own middleman and
the bulk of them started stockpiling supplies months ago in an
anticipation of high demand.

"Everybody that I know tried to augment their inventory as much as
possible in the days and weeks leading up to July 1, but I'm not sure
to what extent they were able to do that," Jolley said Tuesday.

About a week before sales began, Sandoval's chief of staff Michael
Willden said state officials had been informed the dispensaries may
have up to a 60-day supply of pot products.

"We are now informed that many have only days or weeks of product to
be sold," he said last week when the governor announced his
endorsement of the emergency regulations to facilitate the issuing of
distribution licenses to existing retailers.

The head of a company that owns hemp and cannabis operations in
southern Nevada said the regulatory move can't come soon enough.

"I don't think anyone anticipated this strong of an initial demand,
and by all accounts it's a very real possibility that the state could
literally be out of sellable products in August," Friday Night Inc.
CEO Brayden Sutton said Tuesday.

"Current production in Clark County was set up for a snoozey medical
market, not the 10-time increase in sales that retailers experience
once they can sell to anyone 21 and up," he said.

On Monday, the Sparks City Council became the latest local
jurisdiction to approve an ordinance allowing for recreational pot
sales. Currently, there are four licensed retailers in Reno, one in
Pahrump, one in Mesquite, one in Laughlin, four in North Las Vegas and
36 in Las Vegas.
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MAP posted-by: Matt