The Nevada Tax Commission voted unanimously last week in favor of the regulation two weeks after the state began allowing the sale of recreational marijuana and supply problems quickly arose because nobody had been licensed to transport it.
The referendum passed last year by Nevada voters legalizing the drug for recreational use stipulated that for the first 18 months of sales only liquor wholesalers would be allowed to apply to distribute marijuana — a nod to the powerful alcohol industry, which is worried about new competition from pot.
But few alcohol distributors applied, and through July 11, none had been approved. When sales began July 1, retail shops — all of which were already selling marijuana for medical use — had to rely on their existing stocks, which soon started to run low.
The chairman of the tax commission, Jim DeVolld, said the emergency regulation was needed as the state joined several others in the still-evolving world of legal marijuana sales.
