CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada judge has cleared the way for the state's marijuana regulators to start issuing pot distribution licenses to businesses other than existing alcohol wholesalers.
Carson City District Judge James Russell lifted a temporary restraining order Tuesday that had forced the state to adhere to a provision of the ballot measure voters approved in November providing liquor wholesalers exclusive rights to marijuana distribution for 18 months unless they couldn't keep up with market demand.
Russell said after an hour-long hearing there's overwhelming evidence that alcohol wholesalers don't have the capability to meet the needs of dozens of recreational pot dispensaries from Las Vegas to Reno.
He says a group of alcohol distributors that filed suit over the matter is free to appeal their case to the Nevada Tax Commission, as required by law. But he says he has no power to supersede the authority of the state agency that recently determined there's an insufficient number of alcohol businesses to handle the job.