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Interview: Medical Marijuana Entrepreneurs Watching Question 2

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CC BY-SA 2.0

Medical marijuana dispensaries have been popping up across Nevada. Those businesses are eagerly waiting to see if the ballot initiative to legalize recreational pot will pass in the state this election. 

Our contributor Brook Bentley of the Northern Nevada Business Weekly has been covering the medical cannabis industry and shared what she’s been hearing with our news director Michelle Billman.

KUNR: Brook, we don’t know what the exact economic impact could be if recreational marijuana is approved, but we do know that Nevada thrives on tourism. How could that industry be impacted if Question 2 passes?

Brook Bentley: The medical side actually sees some of that already. Nevada’s a state that allows reciprocity, so a patient can come from California, for example, and acquire their medicine while they’re here. And, so, as the recreational part comes up, I think that it could be a bigger conversation.

Mynt, which is a dispensary downtown, held their groundbreaking and they addressed the topic there as being part of the downtown corridor and what that could mean with a bigger tourism influx. I know states like Colorado have seen some numbers and figures that people, part of the reason they’ve chosen to visit the state is because of the recreational use of marijuana.

Reno and Vegas already see a big influx of tourism, so there could be an additional spike, but time will really tell.

KUNR: And through your reporting, you’ve spoken to several medical dispensary owners. I’m assuming most of them are planning to add recreational marijuana to their menus if they’re allowed to. What would that transition entail?

BB: I think a lot of the dispensaries right now are focusing on the medicinal initiatives, but many of them have said that if recreational does come to use in the coming months, or years even, they will even possibly split off an additional retail section, so they can keep the medicinal side separate from the recreational users.

KUNR: And why is it important to keep it separate?

BB: There are a lot of medical users that have specific needs and they might be going through a difficult time, so part of what a lot of the dispensaries hope to offer is a one-on-one, really personalized experience for those people whereas I think some of them are concerned with the recreational marijuana coming in that those same clients might not have the same feel with recreational users coming in and out of their establishments.

KUNR: When we look at the entire industry of recreational marijuana, what other ancillary businesses stand to benefit if this is approved?

BB: I think as the industry gains some traction in the state we’ll a lot of technology industries like Baker coming in to help with the menus and then I think we’ll also see a lot of agricultural types who are really savvy in what they’re doing and they know how to handle this product as it grows. MedMen, for example, highlighted that and they also said they plan on bringing in some really skilled labor jobs for their manufacturing of the product as well.

KUNR: Remind us what MedMen is.

BB: MedMen is a cultivation facility that’s opening out in McCarran, Nevada. It’s a $15 million facility that will be growing and cultivating there.

KUNR: And since recreational marijuana is still not federally approved, what are some of the hurdles that remain for these business owners if, say, it does get approved by the state of Nevada but then it’s not approved by the federal government?

BB: Currently, medical marijuana sees this problem, too, but one of the big adversaries is banking. A lot of the transactions still occur in cash, and I think if the recreational vote does go in and it passes, these establishments will see a bigger influx of money coming in and that will really start to be a problem. Every business has their bills they have to pay and their expenses upfront, and when you have most of your income in cash that becomes kind of a challenge to handle all of that. There’s obviously a high risk with keeping a lot of cash in the retail facility as well for a variety of reasons, and just the accountability as a whole, I think they would be happy if they could get their money on the books and make some of that expense transaction easier.

KUNR: Brook Bentley, thank you.

BB: Thank you. 

Michelle Billman is a former news director at KUNR Public Radio.
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