Nevadans, dispensaries face longer wait for medical pot

Nevadans might not be able to buy marijuana in legal dispensaries until summer — or later — as a legal tangle continues over pesticide rules.

The delay means continued frustration for patients and lost money for businesses that once hoped to begin selling medical pot in January.

It could be months until workable pesticide limits are in place — and even longer before the first significant marijuana crops are ready.

“Nobody can start growing until it’s resolved,” said Shane Terry, CEO of NuVeda, a company that plans to open dispensaries and grow operations.

The problem centers on a Nevada regulation that says marijuana tested in state-licensed labs must meet the “most stringent acceptable standard for an approved pesticide chemical residue in any food item” under federal rules.

Read literally, that means marijuana can’t have any more residue than milk or meat, which are not treated with pest­icides.

“If anybody uses a regulated pesticide on a plant, it’s going to fail, because the levels would be almost impossible to achieve,” said Savino Sguera, a lab director and member of a state advisory committee.

Before any marijuana can be sold in Nevada, it must be tested by a licensed lab for levels of cannabinoids, microbial contaminants, heavy metals and pesticide residue, among other things. The Independent Laboratory Advisory Committee is supposed to help set the standards labs will use.

During its April 1 meeting, committee members suggested testing marijuana with the pesticide limits used for plants such as lettuce or berries. But after consulting with the attorney general’s office, the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health said this week that would require changing a regulation, which it can’t do until after the Legislature adjourns June 1.

The lab advisory committee could vote on pesticide rules Thursday. But that move would largely be moot if the rules are unworkable, members said.

The delay affects the 9,000 Nevadans who already have patient cards, plus thousands more who might benefit from marijuana. Almost 6,500 cardholders are in Clark County, a number that grew by 65 percent over the past year.

“Patients right now are currently either growing their own, which is just a small minority, or they’re purchasing from these illegal dispensaries and delivery services,” said Jason Sturtsman, an advisory committee member who also is an owner of a North Las Vegas cultivation business.

Many people who want medical marijuana haven’t sought cards yet, because “they know there’s no dispensaries (where) they can walk in and get it,” said Dee Powers, founder of Karma Holistic Health Foundation.

So sick people continue taking prescription drugs that can have serious side effects, said Powers, whose foundation helps patients get marijuana cards.

Karma also encourages people to grow their own marijuana, Powers said.

Dispensaries can sell medicine grown by patient cardholders, but that supply would be limited and expensive, Sguera said. And it would have to be tested, too.

When the state gave provisional approval to marijuana businesses in November, people in industry and government said the first dispensaries could open in January.

Businesses have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to design and build their operations. Some have started paying employees, including Euphoria Wellness, a dispensary that held a March 31 open house and ribbon cutting.

At that event, potential customers asked when the shop expected to open. Employees said they hoped it would be by the end of the following week.

That hope came and went Friday.

Contact Eric Hartley at ehartley@reviewjournal.com or 702-550-9229. Find him on Twitter: @ethartley.