Clark County rejects marijuana applications, setting up battle with state

By Conor Shine

Monday, Dec. 29, 2014 | 11:15 a.m.

The Clark County Commission denied 58 applications to open medical marijuana dispensaries today, continuing a back-and-forth battle with the state over which businesses will be allowed to open starting next year.

The decision signaled that the commission isn't backing down from a tug of war with the state over which entity gets the final say on dispensary licensing.

The commission chose its 18 preferred dispensary operators in June, the maximum allowed in unincorporated parts of the county under state law. But when the state conducted its own separate licensing process this fall, it agreed with only 10 of the county's picks.

The discrepancy has created a legal gray area in which eight applicants have county approval but lack a state license while eight other applicants have approval from the state but not the county.

Without approval from both the state and the county, the dispensaries can't open, which prompted a lawsuit and has led to the likelihood that nearly half of the county's dispensaries won't be able to open for the foreseeable future.

The lawsuit was filed against the state by five of the eight applicants that received county-approval but no state license. On Friday, A Clark County District Court judge denied a preliminary injunction after finding that the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health followed the proper rules in ranking applications and granting licenses. The court's decision prompted the county's actions.

By denying the 58 applications today, including the group of eight applicants that received state approval, the county commission is attempting to force the state to re-open its licensing process and reconsider the county-backed applicants.

It's unclear how the state will respond to the county's action. It could take further intervention from the courts or changes to the state's medical marijuana law when the Legislature convenes in February before the dispute is ultimately resolved.

In the meantime, the 10 dispensaries that received county and state approval are free to open, with at least one scheduled to open to the public in January. Another 22 dispensaries are set to open in North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite.