National Business
Judge scheduling more dates in Nevada pot licensing lawsuits
By KEN RITTER Associated Press
May 31, 2019 05:34 PM
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FILE – This April 16, 2018, file photo shows the Essence cannabis dispensary in Las Vegas. A Nevada judge is being asked to freeze the awarding of new dispensary licenses in the state’s booming recreational marijuana sales market. Businesses that lost bids for new licenses last year are challenging the criteria and personnel the state used to award the potentially lucrative permits last year. AP Photo/John Locher, File)
John Locher
AP
LAS VEGAS
A Nevada judge is scheduling at least three more days of testimony in a bid by dozens of businesses denied bids to open marijuana dispensaries to show the state’s retail cannabis licensing process is biased and unconstitutional.
Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez has already heard a week of testimony on a request for an injunction to stop Nevada from nearly doubling the number of dispensaries statewide.
She said Friday that testimony will resume June 10.
The state is defending the procedures and personnel used to rank 462 applications received before the Department of Taxation awarded 61 licenses last December to 16 companies.
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Millions of dollars in sales, taxes and profits are at stake.
There are currently 65 dispensaries statewide, mostly in the Las Vegas and Reno areas.