LAS VEGAS – The budding pot-tour industry in Las Vegas appears to be on hold because of the strict Nevada law on legalized marijuana.
Now that recreational marijuana is legal, some enterprising tour companies have started advertising pot tours, complete with visits to dispensaries and, they had hoped, buses filled with tourists sampling the state’s newest crop.
That, however, was before officials stepped in to nip the tours in the, um, bud.
It seems that even though recreational marijuana use was approved by Nevada voters and took effect in July, state law prohibits people form smoking or ingesting marijuana in a moving vehicle.
“I was blindsided when I got the call,” Highway Tours Las Vegas owner Michael Stevens told KVVU-TV after being informed that pot tours are against the law. “Everything I have is invested in this.”
Some pot-tour operators vow to push the issue, and some have applied for permits to operate such tours.
“This idea can work anywhere, but the fact that this is Sin City will draw tourists to try something they might not have tried before,” Nicholas Hogan, co-owner of GreenRush Puff Bus, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“None of the casinos, hotels or bars will allow consuming marijuana for years, if ever,” Hogan said. “The bus solves that problem by providing a safe area to consume the product in a social environment.”
GreenRush Puff Bus has applied for a state permit, which is under review, according to the Nevada Transportation Authority, which regulates private bus companies and ride-hailing companies across the state.
Some tour operators tried to get around the law by taking passengers to dispensaries and then stopping at a house where they could consume the marijuana. But it apparently wasn’t very popular.
“I knew it was a risky business when I started,” said Stevens of Highway Tours Las Vegas. “But a party bus where you can’t party just doesn’t have any appeal.”
