Earlier last week, the state Supreme Court slapped a temporary injunction against state’s newfound pot market until it can be determined whether other businesses have just as much right to transport recreational weed to retail facilities as the alcohol trade.
The case has been in an out of court since before the state launched its early sales program in July.
As of Thursday’s order, the state’s highest court has put a hold on the distribution of recreational marijuana until it can hear oral arguments form both sides of the dispute at the beginning of October. The hearing will take place at Boyd School of Law at UNLV.
When voters approved the initiative that legalized marijuana in Nevada, they unwittingly supported a measure that gave the state’s alcohol distributors exclusive rights to the distribution of recreational cannabis for a period of 18 months.
However, while attempting to put this plan into action, the Nevada Tax Department found there were not enough alcohol distributors interested in the gig to meet the distribute enough pot the satisfy demand.
Still, this group has refused to give an inch on the issue – demanding that no other businesses be granted distribution rights unless they are members of the Independent Alcohol Distributors of Nevada.
All of the legal snags have put a strain of the state’s overall pot supply. In fact, citing concerns that the state’s pot shortage would drive more people into the black market, Governor Brian Sandoval issued a Statement of Emergency over the summer in order to ramp up the distribution of recreational marijuana.
But attorneys for the alcohol trade say there is no distribution emergency.
A district judge recently determined that the alcohol industry was not able to adequately distribute recreational marijuana without the assistance of outside operations. Yet, the ruling gave the group the right to file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
The argument should be settled before the end of the year.
