Who will be the next set of leaders in Nevada’s cannabis industry as the state works to launch its much-anticipated cannabis consumption lounges?
For the Nevada Chamber of Cannabis, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization with the goal of advancing inclusivity in cannabis commerce, and its industry partners, it is imperative that the state works to create a more diverse marketplace.
Since its inception in early 2020, the Chamber of Cannabis has grown to over 400 registered members and 65 cannabis businesses, as well as roughly 10 ancillary businesses. The organization hosts monthly meetings, much like a regular chamber of commerce, to gather industry leaders to share ideas.
“Our chamber board has been able to use their network to bring people together,” says Tina Ulman, the co-founder and president of the Chamber of Cannabis “We’ve helped place talent, we’ve helped make business introductions, and … those are things that just weren’t happening as strong as they should’ve been previously.”
Earlier this month, The Source, a vertically integrated cannabis operator with dispensary locations in Henderson, Las Vegas and Reno, joined the Chamber of Cannabis at its “Game Changer” level with a donation of $10,000 or more.
“With The Source’s generous financial support, we’re able to retain professional services, such as an executive admin and content creators to help elevate the association communication,” Ulman says. “Without that, we wouldn’t be able to be as effective or sustainable. … We’re grateful to have companies like The Source help support our initiatives.”
“As a company, I think we’ve always been and continue to be about elevating the communities that we work in through community education, engagement and partnerships,” adds Simon Nankervis, CEO of The Source. “When we first started talking to Tina about the Chamber of Cannabis and what the Chamber stood for, we thought that joining at the Game Changer level made a lot of sense for us because there was alignment for us to support a nonprofit that was focused around cannabis reform, community building, and really focused at the dispensary level.”
The Source has dispensary locations in Henderson, Las Vegas and Reno.
As a female-owned organization, Nankervis says The Source has always been an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the industry.
“We’ve been given the opportunity to take a product that’s historically been seen as taboo and work with that product in the greater market,” he says. “It’s important that we destigmatize cannabis more broadly, making sure that communities and people that aren’t actively engaged in cannabis see the great benefits that the product has. In order for people to feel good about the product, they have to feel good about the people in the industry.”
The Nevada cannabis industry has continued to grow since it launched its first legal adult-use cannabis sales in the summer of 2017, and, with that growth, Nankervis says the industry has an obligation to develop both state and national best practices. That includes expanding opportunities for minority-owned businesses, he says, especially as Nevada rolls out its cannabis consumption lounges, which the state legalized last year.
The Chamber of Cannabis has also set its sights on creating diversity and commonsense regulations as Nevada works to launch its consumption lounges.
Ulman has worked with Nevada Assemblyman Steve Yeager for the last several years, and when he signaled his support for consumption lounges, Ulman and her colleagues at the Chamber of Cannabis put forth a proposal and submitted it to Yeager for introduction in the Nevada House.
“Through building relationships, we were fortunate to raise enough money to retain a lobbyist and move as a coalition of like-minded businesses and leaders who wanted to see this bill pass,” Ulman says. “We chose the social consumption lounge bill because it was truly the next thing that should’ve been passed. When Nevada went adult-use, … the legislators didn’t give people anywhere to consume where they weren’t being criminalized, and that’s a big problem, especially when we have millions of tourists coming here every single year.”
The bill ultimately passed last spring, and the Chamber of Cannabis continues to give the industry a voice to help shape the rollout of Nevada’s cannabis consumption lounges.
“I was very lucky to be chosen to sit on a subcommittee for diversity, social equity and inclusion with another activist, two political leaders and a female dispensary owner in Nevada,” Ulman says. “I’m very happy that our Cannabis Compliance Board created four subcommittees to get suggested regulations from people that know that area better than them. Our CCB has also made diversity, social equity and inclusion their top priority because, unfortunately, the Nevada Department of Taxation failed to do so on the first two major rounds of licensing.”
The CCB’s regulations for consumption lounges should be finalized this spring, Ulman says. After that, businesses will be able to apply for consumption lounge licenses.
“This business model does allow infused food and non-alcoholic drinks, which is very, very important because, in Las Vegas, we have a great deal of entrepreneurs, restauranteurs, chefs—people that have big ideas for these lounges,” she says. “It’s not just a smokey lounge, something that I’ve seen people envision sometimes, but much bigger than that and much broader, [and it] will help a lot of other people get into this industry that maybe weren’t involved before.”
Ulman says that some dispensaries already have blueprints in mind for building out consumption lounges in their existing facilities, and these businesses will likely open their lounges first, ahead of independent lounges that will be in the start-up stages.
“It’s just exciting to see how tourism will change,” Ulman says. “The younger tourist isn’t spending the money on gambling. They aren’t spending the money on clubs like they used to. They want the experiences, and a lot of people are also refraining from drinking alcohol and moving into plant-based medicine and using cannabis. … Things are just going to shift, and we want to be at the forefront of that with companies like The Source.”
Nankervis says The Source plans to apply for a consumption lounge license when the time comes.
“At this time, I don’t know what that looks like because the legislation has a long way to go,” he says. “It’s not been made very clear how the lounges will and won’t function in the state. There are a lot of opportunities for us to follow best practices from other industries. I think we can look to the gaming industry about how they’ve dealt with smoking inside casinos [that are] adjacent to eating establishments. I think there are a lot of opportunities for us to look at the way mainstream or non-cannabis businesses dealt with similar issues that the industry’s facing.”
Nankervis says he and his team will work through the Chamber of Cannabis to ensure the Nevada’s consumption lounges move forward with commonsense legislation.
“We’re really happy to be a part of the Chamber of Cannabis,” he says. “We’re happy to support their energy and efforts toward ensuring that we have a better industry. … We’re truly a fledgling industry today. As we go forward, it’s important that we start to think about, OK, what does this industry look like three, five, 10 years from now, and how do we develop the next set of leaders as we go into the next stage of the evolution?”
It is an election year for Nevada’s local jurisdictions, and the Chamber of Cannabis plans to meet with many of the candidates to discuss their positions on cannabis policy reform. The organization will ultimately create scorecards for each of the candidates, Ulman says.
The Chamber of Cannabis also aims to increase its collaboration between the organization and local colleges and universities so ensure that graduates can secure internships and jobs in the cannabis industry.
“For me, The Source and other companies truly are helping us do what we’ve always envisioned, and without them, we wouldn’t be able to continue with the movement,” Ulman says. “It’s great to see a win-win relationship, and we’re excited to continue to set the bar for other cannabis companies and set the bar for other states, so that Nevada will be the gold standard in so many aspects.”