Judge Stops Nevada Department of Taxation From Approving More Recreational Cannabis Distributors – News

Although Nevada marijuana regulators took action last week to issue recreational marijuana licenses to businesses other than the state’s liquor wholesalers, a judge has put a temporary stop to this plan.

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, Judge James Todd Russell handed down an order last Friday that prevents any business other than the liquor distributors from putting marijuana on the shelves of the state’s 60 dispensaries. The temporary order, which was requested by the Independent Alcohol Distributors of Nevada, suggests that the alcohol industry has been denied due process by the Department of Taxation.

The department must now prove the liquor distributors cannot adequately handle the job before the injunction can be lifted – something that taxation executive Deonne Contine believes has already been accomplished.

“I think the evidence is fairly clear today that this market needs to be opened up,” Contine told the Associated Press. “The capacity of only liquor wholesalers to serve the market seems lacking.”

It was just a month ago that Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval issued a “Statement of Emergency” over a marijuana shortage that took…