Las Vegas has welcomed its first licensed cannabis consumption lounge, Smoke and Mirrors, marking a significant milestone seven years after Nevada’s legalization of cannabis and offering tourists and locals a legal place to enjoy their purchases.
First Las Vegas Cannabis Lounge Opens for Business
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The first cannabis consumption lounge in Las Vegas opened for business last week, seven years after Nevada voters approved cannabis legalization, according to a KLAS report. Smoke and Mirrors, which is located in the Thrive Cannabis Marketplace near the Las Vegas Strip, is the first of 19 conditionally approved lounges to open in the state.
The lounge’s first retail transaction took place at 4:20 pm on Friday, with Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom — a cannabis industry advocate — making the purchase.
Nevada was an early mover in the legalization of cannabis but tourists to the state, and particularly Las Vegas — which is one of the country’s top tourism destinations — have sorely missed opportunities to legally consume the recreational cannabis products were allowed to purchase.
“The reality is you could buy it, but you can’t use it in the dispensary and if you’re a tourist, you can’t use it,” Segerblom said in the report.
“We’ve legalized marijuana back in 2017. It’s taken another seven years to get here. It’s time. I’m hoping this is the start of something big. It’s just an incredibly slow, complicated process. But now we have the first one opening. Hopefully they’ll go faster from here on and then it’ll just be part of the Las Vegas experience.” — Segerblom, via FOX5 Vegas
Thrive Cannabis Market CEO Mitch Britten said in the report that infrastructure for the lounge including air scrubbers and “ample air exchanges” had been planned during the building’s construction, long before they were actually approved.
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