A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I took a break from the Las Vegas hustle and flew to Reno.

After a nice dinner, we walked a few blocks of bars, casinos, liquor stores and more bars … all to get to our destination, which was neatly settled next to the Historic Reno Arch and plenty of abandoned buildings: The Dispensary on 2nd Street. It's the only recreational cannabis dispensary in downtown Reno.

It was hard not to realize that in a state largely built on indulgence, not all vices are treated the same when it comes to where they're allowed to operate. 

Recreational cannabis has been legal in Nevada for nearly a decade, but on the ground, the reality is more complicated. For many consumers, strict zoning and distance rules turn legal cannabis access into an inconvenience. 

What I noticed in Reno seemed to be a cautionary tale for the rest of the state. If the "Biggest Little City in the World" is the warning sign, Las Vegas could suffer from this on a larger scale. There are 80 dispensaries in Clark County serving residents and tourists. That's a healthy amount of dispensaries — but it's less about the number than where they're allowed to operate, with zoning rules limiting access despite high demand.

Under Nevada law, cannabis businesses must comply with state licensing requirements and local land-use rules. In Clark County, that means dispensaries must meet strict distance requirements — including being at least 1,000 feet from schools and 1,500 feet from nonrestricted gaming properties.

Because those restrictions are tied to fixed buildings such as schools and casinos, they don't shift with demand. So, dispensaries tend to cluster in areas where requirements can be met, while portions of the city remain off-limits. 

We've seen this stifle taxable growth. As reported in The Nevada Independent, the promising vision for a "New Amsterdam" in the Arts District has been largely erased by distance requirements — in this case, the requirement that cannabis consumption lounges are at least 1,000 feet apart.

This "New Amsterdam" could be a walkable district filled with dispensaries, consumption lounges, cafés — a space where tourists could move between businesses the same way they already do on Fremont Street or the Strip — and it could be a gold mine.

The missed economic opportunity of this isn't just theoretical. According to the Cannabis Compliance Board, statewide taxable sales dropped by 8.6 percent last fiscal year. By forcing shops into expensive, "compliant" pockets of the city, we've made it harder for small businesses to survive.

But this isn't just about poor little dispensaries struggling to make it. The recreational cannabis industry has become a significant potential source of tax revenue that could be so much more than a mere "drop in the bucket." In 2025, cannabis paid nearly $96 million into the state education fund. While that only accounts for about 2 percent of the state's education budget, there's an untapped opportunity here. But by cutting off the sector with burdensome land-use rules, we're preventing classrooms from securing supplemental funding. 

To put this absurdity in perspective, consider alcohol — one of Vegas' first and most preferred legal indulgences. Liquor stores in Clark County are also subject to zoning laws; they are not allowed to be within 1,500 feet of schools or churches. But the county has provided alcohol with an exception. With a waiver, a liquor store can operate as close as 500 feet from a school. Dispensaries, on the other hand, are denied this flexibility that a waiver allows. (Not to mention the fact that in places such as Fremont Street, cocktail bars happily clustered side by side — no onerous distance rules here — make for one of downtown's main attractions.)

Treating cannabis as something to be hidden rather than a valuable retail asset means Nevada is falling behind. Other markets are proving that when you loosen the zoning leash, the economic rewards will follow.

Nevada doesn't have to look far for a model. In West Hollywood — a city less than 2 square miles in size — Emerald Village West Hollywood launched about five years ago. Emerald Village has 10 dispensaries and six consumption lounges in the heart of the action, right by iconic spots such as the Chateau Marmont and the Paul Smith outlet's "Pink Wall."

This was possible in part because of West Hollywood's approach to zoning. It allows for at least a 600-foot distance from schools and youth centers, which is approximately half of Vegas' current limits. By choosing a shorter tape measure, WeHo allowed cannabis to become a neighbor to high-end retail that makes the city bustle.

It's also worth mentioning that Nevada isn't the only state that cooled in cannabis sales recently. California — home to the largest cannabis market in the world — saw statewide tax revenue dip by more than $30 million in late 2025. Much of that was blamed on a temporary tax hike that sent prices climbing, but high taxes only tell half the story. The real damage of a price hike is what it does to a consumer who is already inconvenienced.

While the rest of the Golden State suffered from these sales dips, Emerald Village reported a 7.8 percent increase in sales activity. With proactive zoning, it gave the people what they wanted despite that tax storm: accessibility.

This makes Nevada's refusal to modernize even more frustrating, because while the school buffers are a hurdle, the gaming buffer is the real economic killer. 

Casinos are hard to avoid in Vegas. We'll hand a tourist a free drink as long as they're spending money at the machines, but placing a dispensary nearby would supposedly be the true menace to "gaming integrity." We're blocking the very adults who have the money and desire to spend it.

And without a place to consume legally, people don't just stop using cannabis — they just do it badly. Tourists can sneak products into hotel rooms, and anyone can light up on crowded sidewalks and create nuisances that benefit no one.

An easy fix to this that would also economically benefit Nevada is to have more consumption lounges. Right now, the Vegas valley has a grand total of three consumption lounges. That's hard to justify for a city that claims to be the Entertainment Capital of the World while Emerald Village has double the amount in a 2-mile radius.

Nevada already has a world-class blueprint for managing adult vices in a social setting. It's called a bar. If we can safely manage a 24-hour bar on every corner, we can certainly manage a dedicated district for cannabis consumption.

So, we can keep these cannabis businesses isolated and wonder why revenue is dipping, or we can follow the money. We should turn those hollowed-out downtown Reno buildings into more storefronts and finally let the Arts District's "New Amsterdam" dream bring some more prosperity to Nevada.

Grace Kelly is a UNLV Honors College student pursuing a degree in journalism.