Nevada Dispensary’s Launch Delayed Again

A Nevada company that hopes to open the first dispensary in the state has been delayed again, this time due to issues over how much medical cannabis it can buy from home growers.

Euphoria Wellness in Las Vegas has been ready to open for months but has yet to begin operations thanks to a host of delays. The latest setback stems from questions surrounding the amount of marijuana the dispensary can buy at a time.

A wrinkle in Nevada law allows dispensary owners to purchase cannabis from home growers. While Euphoria executives have said they’d like to buy as much as possible to ensure their shelves are stocked when they open their doors, state law only allows for personal possession of 2.5 ounces of “usable” medical cannabis.

That means the dispensary would have to work with a huge network of home growers to stock its shelves, which could prove immensely difficult.

If home growers sell more than 2.5 ounces to the dispensary, they’d basically be admitting that they’re breaking the possession law.

Another issue is that each batch of marijuana a dispensary purchases must be tested for harmful toxins. It doesn’t, however, make financial sense to test only 2.5 ounces at a time without making the price prohibitively expensive, as each test would cost as much as $1,500.

Licensed growers recently planted their crops, but it will be months before any is ready for sale.