Nevada Governor Calls State Of Emergency On Marijuana Shortage

While the Mary Jane users of the other U.S. states and territories are concealing their recreational habits, Nevada is calling a state of emergency on the shortage of the substance available.

Just after its lucrative holiday weekend debut in the Silver State, Governor Brian Sandoval declared a state of emergency on Friday (July 7). The state of emergency enables state officials to speed up the approval status of emergency regulations to supply the high demand of marijuana. These regulations will allow an increase in applicants for distribution and transportation licenses.

While the Department of Taxation didn’t reveal the exact numbers on state tax revenue from the industry until September, the Nevada Dispensary Association gave their estimates for the time between July 1 and July 4. The associations suggests dispensaries made approximately $3 million in sales, while the state reaped a whopping $1 million in tax revenue.

The supply clearly isn’t meeting the demand. The department’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Klapstein told Reno-Gazette Journal in an email that establishments are reporting “the need for delivery within the next several days.” The problem here is that there’s estimated to be a lag between when dispensaries sell out and the next harvest. Many of the cultivation centers servicing Nevada are in the midst of their growth cycle for some strains of the recreational substance.

Surprisingly enough, this predicted halt in the Marijuana industry will affect Nevada’s school budget, according to Klapstein. The revenue that is made from the 15 percent cultivation tax goes towards schools.

“The business owners in this industry have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to build facilities across the state,” the spokeswoman began. “They have hired and trained thousands of additional employees to meet the demands of the market. Unless the issue with distributor licensing is resolved quickly, the inability to deliver product to retail stores will result in many of these people losing their jobs and will bring this nascent market to a grinding halt. A halt in this market will lead to a hole in the state’s school budget.”