MESQUITE, Nev. - Utah may soon have a medical marijuana dispensary less than 30 miles from its border.
This week, the city of Mesquite started accepting applications from businesses interested in setting up shop.
The city council approved an ordinance to allow a grow operation earlier this month. Any business would first need to be approved by the state of Nevada to produce cannabis products. The city council will then consider the conditional use permit.
Mesquite City Development Services Director Richard Secrist said, in a simplified way, it’s a process similar to any other business. The difference is the governing laws.
“I think there’s a little heightened security with it,” Secrist said. “They have to have what they call seed to sale control. They need to know where it was grown, which batch of Marijuana they sold to patient, or which dispensary, how much.”
Opponents of the ordinance worried the placement of a dispensary would lead to increased drug use, and recreational use, but Secrist said the city council considers that a different issue.
“Our city council included language in our ordinance,” Secrist said. “A statement of intent that said that it should not be seen in any way as paving the way for recreational marijuana.”
The Nevada Medical Marijuana Association executive director Peter Krueger said the facility would benefit those in surrounding states as well.
“Any person from the United States who holds a valid Medical Marijuana card from a jurisdiction is permitted to purchase their medicine here,” Krueger said.
Utah Representative Gage Foerer says as long as the facility produced the exact cannabis oil legalized under Charlee’s law this year, Utahns would be able to buy it there. The issue comes with the fact that it’s still illegal to bring it back across state lines through federal law.
Mesquite is accepting applications until October 1.
