Five takeaways from our recent update on the Nevada marijuana industry:
1. Nevada Rep. Dina Titus has been promoted to co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. She’s been advocating for wider cannabis access for years, as has the Caucus. With Titus at the helm, she hopes to push existing concerns forward "with a vengeance," as she told KNPR, "[including] how to [enable cannabis] research, how to make [medical cannabis] available to veterans, how to get good tax policy that treats [cannabis businesses] just like other small businesses, getting banking opened up to marijuana small businesses — those are all on the agenda, and we hope to move some of that legislation forward."
2. Nevada and every other state that allows medical marijuana is waiting for the de-scheduling of the drug, which would take it from the most potent (Schedule I) to Schedule III, putting cannabis alongside less addictive and more medicinal drugs like ketamine. President Biden OK'd the de-scheduling, but it's been held up by the Drug Enforcement Administration. "Re-scheduling would take care of some of the problems, like the tax problem and the research problem," says Rep. Titus. "Wouldn't do everything like de-scheduling would, but it'd certainly be an important step." Incoming President Trump has previously said he supports de-scheduling.
3. A December report from UNLV's Cannabis Policy Institute revealed that while marijuana prices at dispensaries are going down in Nevada, the state has the highest retail prices in the nation. An eighth of an ounce costs on average about $40 in Nevada, while California customers pay $15. The main reason? Nevada grows 80 percent of its cannabis indoors, which comes with enormous overhead costs.
4. The goal of the industry is to get the national average down to $5 for an eighth so it can compete with — and overtake — sales of illegal cannabis, also hurting Nevada's retail market. Add the aforementioned overhead, as well as the taxes exacted on cannabis, and "I don't know that we ever get down to $5 competing with the unlicensed market," says Nevada Cannabis Association executive director Layke Martin.
5. Another significant development could bring Nevada's retail cannabis prices down: decriminalizing marijuana on the federal level, which would permit interstate distribution and, subsequently, Nevada dispensaries could buy less expensive products from other states. "We are likely to become an import state, although Dr Goldstein, the author of [The UNLV cannabis] report, predicts that we may actually get really good at growing in greenhouses and have decently priced cannabis [from the] greenhouses," says Nevada Cannabis Compliance vice chair and UNLV Cannabis Policy Institute director Riana Durrett. "So we may fare okay on that, but I would definitely bank on us not being a top exporter state."
Guests: Dina Titus, congresswoman and co-chair, Congressional Cannabis Caucus; Layke Martin, executive director, Nevada Cannabis Association and professor of cannabis policy, UNLV; Riana Durrett, vice chair, Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board and director, UNLV's Cannabis Policy Institute