“I think the writing is on the wall that it will go out of business if we can not have the same opportunities as others,” said Zakalik. “As we have seen in other industries and present in this industry, there will be a strategic approach by those who own majority licenses to essentially put them out of business.”

“As I sit here today, I am losing $1.5 [millions] or more a month on a mothballed facility. Those are very real damages,” said Groesbeck, referring to the revenue he believes he would have generated if he could have expanded the business.“This isn’t a projection. This is real dollars, real sales.”

Lawmakers who more than doubled the per-pack cigarette tax in 2015 and approved a 30 percent tax on vaping products this session have said they want to price people out of smoking. They also want to curb a trend they said they were “horrified” to discover just a few years ago — that about 15 percent of youth are vaping. 

Former Department of Taxation Executive Director Deonne Contine said in Clark County District Court on Thursday that she believes the state did not disregard ballot question language when creating the latest marijuana licensing application, as alleged by applicants suing the state.

Cronkhite’s testimony was part of a hearing on a motion for preliminary injunction that has been ongoing since late May in Clark County District Court. Numerous business entities that sought lucrative state marijuana dispensary licenses but were rejected have filed lawsuits against the Department of Taxation, arguing the state’s process was opaque and unfair.

The bill, AB533, would add some clarity on the legally murky issue of allowing venues where marijuana can be publicly consumed. But as amended, it appears to throw a wrench in the plans for the city of Las Vegas, which has moved forward on regulating such lounges.

Lawmakers on Tuesday dropped much-awaited legislation that would establish a board tasked with top-to-bottom regulatory authority over the marijuana industry — a promise made by Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Amid lawsuits over the secrecy of the state’s marijuana business licensing regime, Gov. Steve Sisolak has signed a bill that will dramatically increase the level of transparency in the process.

This session, bills emerged to send proceeds to an education account, authorize limited-purpose banks to handle the marijuana industry’s finances and ease the path forward for consumption lounges. But chief among the nearly 20 cannabis-related bills introduced this session is a forthcoming measure from Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office creating a Cannabis Compliance Board.

Marijuana has risen from ignominy to prominence in the state since lawmakers authorized recreational sales in July 2017. And the plant has also taken a prominent role in the life of Priscilla Vilchis, founder of Premium Produce, a company that grows marijuana not too far from the Las Vegas Strip.

The Paiutes’ ancient migratory route is spotted with housing subdivisions and roads. But where Tso stands on this cool winter afternoon, the tribe is preparing to preserve its economic future with its latest cash crop: cannabis.

As the state faces criticism and lawsuits over its secretive process for licensing marijuana dispensaries, new legislation is calling for the disclosure of the names of business entities that applied and more details about scoring methodology.

It’s the latest in a string of lawsuits since the state announced in early December that it had granted additional licenses, but refused to reveal even the business names of those who won without the winners’ written consent.

State auditors found frequent discrepancies between the amount of sales that are logged into the seed-to-sale tracking software METRC, and those reported on state tax returns. The association, which represents numerous marijuana businesses, did not comment last Thursday at a meeting when the audit was first discussed, but provided a statement to The Nevada Independent about the findings this week.

J. Brin Gibson, Sisolak’s general counsel and chairman of an advisory panel that’s explored marijuana regulatory structures over the past few weeks, said the outline of the proposed bill was submitted on Thursday. A Sisolak executive order calling for more effective marijuana oversight had set a Friday deadline for completing “enabling language for the Legislature’s consideration.”

An audit of the Nevada Department of Taxation found that information reported to the state in tax returns didn’t match information entered into a seed-to-sale tracking software nearly three-quarters of the time. The report also faulted the department for using only a fraction of the money lawmakers allocated to ramp up security in state offices working with the mostly cash industry

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told an industry group Thursday that he supports the creation of marijuana consumption lounges as long as they don’t also include alcohol sales. His comment came as he provided insight from the law enforcement side during a Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Association luncheon.