State, county can’t agree on marijuana dispensaries

By Conor Shine

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014 | 1:44 p.m.

Clark County and state health officials have chosen which businesses they think should receive one of 18 licenses to operate a medical marijuana dispensary in the county’s unincorporated areas. The only problem: their lists don’t match.

Of the 18 businesses selected by the state for medical marijuana certificates, eight are not on the list approved by the county, which conducted its own approval process in June.

The discrepancy has led to a conflict from which neither side seems willing to back down.

County commissioners discussed the issue at their meeting today, but it’s not clear how the dispute ultimately will be settled.

The state has said it cannot issue any more certificates because the application process has closed.

But the County Commission indicated today it was unwilling to grant zoning permits and business licenses to dispensaries it didn’t approve at the June hearing.

Dispensaries cannot operate without a certificate from the state and approval from the County Commission.

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani said the state’s process didn’t do a good enough job spreading dispensaries throughout unincorporated Clark County.

“I’m especially bothered with the representation on the east and north side of town,” she said. “The bottom line is it’s our land use that drives this.”

Commissioner Steve Sisolak criticized the state for not responding to communications from him and County Manager Don Burnette. Sisolak said he planned to call Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office today to discuss the issue.

Under a 2013 law passed by the Legislature, the state is in the process of setting up a system of marijuana dispensaries and growing, production and testing facilities to make medical marijuana more available to card-holding patients.

The law limits the number of dispensaries, where marijuana is sold to patients, to 40 locations in Clark County, including 18 in unincorporated areas.