Nevada: 273 Marijuana Business in Operation with Over 6,700 Employees

The Nevada Dispensary Association recently surveyed its members to see how big the industry has grown. They also took a look at sales numbers and tax revenues generated to date.

The reaction at the Council of State Governments Convention indicates that Nevada is a model state when it comes to regulatory policies for marijuana, reports Las Vegas Now. The industry, as a whole, pays about $1.8 million for security and roughly $1.3 million on utilities. With recreational marijuana becoming legal this year, 273 businesses are now operating. Data says that those businesses employ more than 6,700 people.

Riana Durrett of the Nevada Dispensary Association said, “There are a lot of taxes coming into the state, but we’re also seeing there are extremely high regulatory costs and operational costs.”

While money is coming in, business owners are spending big dollars just to operate within compliance.

The average wage in the marijuana industry in Nevada is $19.28 per hour. The state’s minimum wage is $8.25 per hour, so marijuana industry employees are making well above minimum wage. Roughly 47%  of the industry’s employees are minorities.

States like Maine are attempting to get some guidance from states like Nevada. Senator Roger Katz of Maine paid close attention the data.

Senator Katz said, “Nevada is different from Maine in many, many ways, but the issues about legalization of marijuana they’re really the same.”

Katz believes these conventions help states get ahead of federal marijuana policy.

He said, “This opportunity to talk among our colleagues really does demonstrate that the states are the 50 labs of the country.”