Oklahoma, Oregon and California are the best-positioned states to benefit from the interstate commerce that would result from federal marijuana descheduling, according to a white paper published this month by the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The analysis said those states having the cheapest large-scale production costs and the highest per-capita economic potential, putting them in a better position that other state-legal cannabis markets.

Once businesses can send marijuana products coast to coast, current markets, regulatory burden and the varying costs of doing business will help decide which states beat out the others in the market, University of California, Davis economist Robin Goldstein wrote in a report with UNLV’s Cannabis Policy Institute.

However, she also noted that she has long supported daily room cleaning for its potential public safety benefits. In particular, she thinks it can be helpful in cracking down on sex trafficking and the illicit cannabis market (she is a regulatory attorney for the cannabis industry), referring to a 2024 UNLV report that determined restrictions on cannabis operations or deliveries around the Las Vegas Strip have created an opening for illegal cannabis sales.

Illegal cannabis sales from criminal networks have been cutting into profits at legal establishments across Nevada, according to regulators. Regulators presented the numbers to a Senate committee, this week, as lawmakers discussed avenues for enforcement and ways to discourage the illegal market with proposed Assembly legislation.

Where does Nevada’s cannabis industry stand in 2025? What can consumers expect with prices? And how does the 2024 Presidential Election factor in? Our in-studio panel weighs in. Then we meet George Lee, a former Las Vegas blackjack dealer with an incredible story of his start as a ballet dancer on Broadway.

Buying marijuana on the Las Vegas Strip is illegal. That doesn’t mean it’s difficult. Tourists are only a Google search away from the many illegal websites offering delivery to the Resort Corridor. Others can hop on social media to find “pop-up sales parties” in nearby hotel suites. And, as Assemblymember Max Carter II, D-Las Vegas, recalls a visitor telling him, rideshare vehicles will sometimes come supplied with a mini-dispensary.

In December, the UNLV Cannabis Policy Institute issued a report outlining six different recommendations for eliminating the illegal unlicensed market, which accounts for up to 30 percent of all cannabis sales. The recommendations include developing a strategy to enforce against the unlicensed market and provide the Department of Taxation with the authority to collect taxes on unlicensed cannabis sales.

Even as Nevada casinos draw millions of tourists, a fear of federal oversight has created artificial barriers between the state’s gaming and cannabis industries, leading to missed business opportunities and confused operators trying to navigate the divide, according to a new study.

After approval from both voters and state lawmakers, sales of recreational marijuana products in Nevada have reached more than $5 billion. Sales peaked during the pandemic in 2021 at more than a $1 billion. They’ve fallen since then but remained around $800 million in 2024.

Our first dispensaries opened in Las Vegas 10 years ago — advocates for cannabis legalization had promised a tax revenue jackpot, earmarked for education, that would save our schools. But that windfall never really happened, and since 2021, cannabis revenue has actually dropped and flatlined. Today, co-host Dayvid Figler talks with Riana Durrett, director of the Cannabis Policy Institute at UNLV, and asks: What happened? And is 2025 the year cannabis finally makes money?

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, will become one of the leading voices on issues related to cannabis on Capitol Hill. Titus' office announced Thursday that the lawmaker has been named co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus.

Jordan Wellington hosts Riana Durrett, vice chair of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board and director of the Cannabis Policy Institute at UNLV, for a discussion about the impact of legal cannabis in Nevada, its relationship with the gaming industry, and why it is so important to get cannabis hospitality right. They also discuss the importance of ongoing research and stakeholder engagement, which were at the heart of the policy symposium co-hosted by CPI and Strategies 64 during MJBizCon.