Nevada regulators have licensed the state’s first recreational cannabis distributor in an effort to prevent the newly-launched industry from running out of products, CNN Money reports. The license was granted to Blackbird Logistics Corporation, which currently distributes medical cannabis in the state but needed to obtain a liquor distribution license to serve the recreational industry.
Blackbird CEO Tim Conder said that his company will begin deliveries immediately and plans to double its 30-employee workforce by the end of the month to keep up with the dramatic increase in business.
The state Tax Commission also approved emergency regulations to try and fill the distribution void, which will allow non-alcohol companies to distribute cannabis until liquor wholesalers are ready to enter the market. Those regulations were approved by Gov. Brian Sandoval.
The state is still entrenched in a legal battle with alcohol distributors, who claim that the industry has exclusive recreational cannabis distribution rights for the first 18 months of the program. A judge agreed with the plaintiffs, but following the strong start – with sales almost double what the state anticipated – the Tax Department needed to act, and having appealed the court’s decision, were able to set up the emergency rules.