Last week marked the opening of Nevada’s first medical marijuana dispensary, Silver State Relief, where qualified patients can purchase marijuana-based remedies to treat conditions like cancer, pain, and PTSD.
Silver State Relief opened up Friday morning in Sparks, Nevada, a few miles away from the city of Reno. The dispensary is the first of its kind in the state of Nevada, which legalized medical marijuana almost fifteen years ago. In 2000, 65 percent of voters approved the Nevada Medical Marijuana Act, a constitutional amendment allowing for the possession and use of marijuana by patients with a doctor’s recommendation.
Despite the early adoption of medical marijuana in the state, the law did not provide formal access to the plant, leaving patients in Nevada with no other recourse but to grow their own or purchase black market marijuana:
Possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes has been legal in the state for more than 10 years. Dispensaries, however, only became legal as a result of a bill in 2013 Nevada Legislature, and the law allowing dispensaries to operate didn’t go into effect until April 2014.
The opening of Nevada’s first dispensary came with little controversy. The Sparks City Council voted to allow such establishments last year, but city officials still anticipated some opposition to the news:
“We expected a lot of pushback (from residents), but we didn’t get any,” said city planner Karen Melby. “The people who showed up to meetings were in support of the dispensary being built.”
This lack of opposition is understandable considering the popularity and benefits of providing access to medical marijuana. According to nationwide polls, four-in-five Americans support medical marijuana, and recent studies suggest that allowing for its sale can save lives by reducing drug-related harm, including overdoses.
City officials are now tasked with regulating the sales of medical marijuana, a tricky endeavor seeing as Silver State Relief is the first dispensary in the state:
The Sparks City Council also debated how late dispensaries should be allowed to remain open, originally saying 6 p.m. but eventually extending it to 7 p.m. The city has found the accommodation of the medical marijuana industry somewhat of a challenge. There are many procedures and processes that have to be in place to ensure a legitimate operation.
“The hardest part for all of us is that it’s all new,” Melby said.
More dispensaries should open in the months to come. The regulations in place in Nevada, which include seed-to-sale tracking, make opening a dispensary both a costly and time-consuming process. Silver State Relief, for example, had to postpone its opening date several times, partly due to additional regulations passed by the state legislature. According to the Associated Press, “Nevada already has distributed many of its 66 marijuana dispensary licenses, but it’s unclear how soon Las Vegas or other parts of the state will see shops open.”
Nevada may also legalize marijuana for recreational use, as reformers work on getting a citizen initiative on the 2016 ballot. A successful legalization initiative would make Nevada “the fifth state to fully legalize the drug, after Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.”
