Nevada’s first Pot Shop now Accepting Out of State Patients

Nevada’s first medical marijuana dispensary, Silver State Relief, became the first pot shop to open its doors to out of state patients.

Aron Swan, the general manager of Silver State Relief, spent almost two years planning, registering, building and growing. He and his team at the dispensary have achieved their main goal which was ultimately to provide medicine to people who need it.

“It’s a plant. It’s an herb that helps people,” Swan said.

Even out of state patients can come anywhere from Maine to California to come get their medicine in Nevada, Swan said.

Nevada in 2015 became the first state to allow nonresident reciprocity, giving medical marijuana cardholders from other states the legal ability to buy medical marijuana in Nevada.

The reciprocity law, which has attracted thousands of out-of-state patients, is part of a move to increase tourism, Swan Said.

Reciprocity laws mean tourists can walk right into any dispensary and buy legal pot. Although Medicinal Cannabis is intended to help patients in Nevada, the goal of the law was to attract tourists from out of state. Silver State Relief is one of the reasons why this law was able to pass in Nevada.

Silver State Relief now possesses around 200 plants, brought in from all around Nevada, which they will use to grow future crops. Now that they have purchased the plants, they are not limited by how many they can grow in the future.

“Patients are allowed to possess 2.5 ounces of marijuana per 14-day period, but given that the store will have a slim supply, the dispensary will be limiting purchases to a half-ounce per transaction”, Swan Said.

There were many job applications received for positions at the dispensary that wanted to help serve patients for their medicinal marijuana purposes, Swan said.

“The opening has been highly anticipated in the community”, Swan said.

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 Nevada legislature bill passing in 2013.

Even though Nevada has become more open to accepting cannabis use, there are still regulations that should be followed by patients and dispensaries.

“Last year, Sparks City Council voted to approve medical marijuana dispensaries in the city”, Swan Said.

State law dictates that marijuana dispensaries must be 300 feet away from community buildings and 1,000 feet away from schools and substance-abuse treatment centers. Officials decided to restrict marijuana facilities to commercial and industrial areas.

As a highly regulated industry, medical marijuana facilities face greater challenges than most businesses. For example, because medical marijuana is not federally approved, businesses can’t ship in plants from other states. Instead, Silver State Relief had to source its plants from local cardholders, who are allowed to grow plants for personal use.

Unless the next Legislature takes action sooner, Nevadans will consider another ballot measure in 2016 to legalize recreational use of marijuana.