We missed 4/20 by a day, but there’s still plenty of marijuana news.
In Carson City, the Legislature is considering 20 bills relating to the formerly illegal substance.
Lawmakers are looking at how to tax it, package it, regulate it and more. They’re also talking about things like marijuana-infused massages.
Ricardo Baca is the founding editor of The Cannabist, and is a marijuana columnist for The Daily Beast.
“Good for Nevada for actually putting rules and regulations into place that govern this area,” Baca said.
Baca said when it comes to "social consumption" of the drug Colorado does not have some of the regulations needed even three years after it was legalized there.
One of the biggest issues in Colorado, that is just now getting resolved, is public consumption. In November, voters there passed an initiative to allow public consumption in certain places. Public consumption is a big problem for Nevada because of tourism. Casinos cannot allow marijuana to be consumed there because of state gaming regulations but it is legal and tourists will want to consume it.
In Colorado, coffee shops, yoga studios, art galleries and movie theaters are among the places that people would be allowed to consume marijuana. But places with a liquor license would not be allowed to let people use the drug.
Baca believes what will happen is stand alone 'consumption lounges' will be established. Part of the law there requires places permitted to allow public consumption to work with neighborhood associations.
“It has activists and business people working with the neighborhoods and I think that is a really smart part of it that they added this year,” Baca said.
As the marijuana industry has grown in Colorado, so has the number of ways people are using it. Besides the marijuana-infused massages, Baca said there are marijuana paired dinners - similar to wine and beer pairings.
“I think as we see this substance become normalized now that it’s been recreational legalized in eight states plus D.C., we’re going to see it incorporated into our daily life a lot more than it has been in the past,” he said.
Ricardo Baca, founding editor, The Cannabist