Nevada State Leaders Prepare For Potential Launch of Pop-Up Cannabis Lounges

SACRAMENTO, CA – When the California State Fair hosted its first-ever cannabis lounge this week, the visitors included a group of Nevada state officials looking to gain insights for the possible launch of similar lounges in their own state.

According to Fox5 Vegas, the contingent at the event in Sacramento included Clark County Chair Tick Segerblom, Nevada House Speaker Steve Yeager, State Sen. Dallas Harris and various Clark County business license officials.

They were particularly interested in the state fair’s 30,000-square-foot cannabis consumption lounge, which gave attendees over age 21 an opportunity to try products from diverse farms and brands from across California.

Nevada lawmakers are expected to reconsider a bill next year to allow temporary cannabis consumption lounges in the state for events such as music festivals and marijuana business conferences.  A similar proposal in 2023 failed to win legislative approval.

The group visiting the California fair observed the safeguards that were in effect for the cannabis lounges.  “It’s controlled access,” said Segerblom.  “You have fences around it so people can’t get in. You have placed security guards to make sure that that you’re nothing unusual happens. There are separate rooms or tents for purchase, consumption of edibles as well as smoking.”

He said the visit to the fair was the latest step in Nevada’s efforts to gather information during the marijuana legalization process.  “We have a history of this,” said Segerblom.  “When we first started out in 2013 [to legalize dispensaries], we went to Phoenix to see how they did it down there. We came back to Carson City, and based upon that knowledge, that’s how we got the bill passed. The thought was, let’s see how it works. And if it seems simple enough, they can take it to Carson City and do it again.”

In February, Nevada’s first state-regulated cannabis consumption lounge opened for business in Las Vegas. Recreational cannabis use became legal in Nevada in 2016 and five years later, the state approved permission for business owners to apply for licenses to establish on-site consumption lounges.

Now the state is looking ahead to the possibility of pop-up lounges in venues such as large festivals that attract tourists.“They’re actually contained,” Segerblom told Fox5.  “They’re either going to walk back to hotel or leave EDC and take a bus or a helicopter. They’re probably the best venue to use this, and they already they have bars there.”

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