Nevada officials have declared a state of emergency over marijuana: There’s simply not enough of it.
Since recreational pot became legal in Nevada about two weeks ago, retail dispensaries have struggled to keep their shelves stocked, The Tribune News Service reports. The dispensaries say they will soon run out if nothing is done to fix a broken supply chain.
“We didn’t know the demand would be this intense,” Al Fasano, co-founder of Las Vegas ReLeaf, says “All of a sudden you have like a thousand people at the door. … We have to tell people we’re limited in our products.”
In declaring a state of emergency late last week, the state Department of Taxation warned that “this nascent industry would grind to a halt.”
As bad as that would be for marijuana consumers and the pot shops, the state has another concern: tax revenue. A 10% tax on sales of recreational pot—along with a 15% tax on growers—is expected to generate tens of millions of dollars a year for schools and the state’s general fund reserves.
With about 100 growers in operation across Nevada, there is plenty of wholesale marijuana. The crisis has to do with distribution and state rules over who is allowed to transport marijuana.
