Background Requirements for Medical Marijuana Dispensary

More Than Just Enough Money, Medical Marijuana Dispensary Applicants Must Meet Certain Background Requirements.  SB 374

Even if you have the necessary financial requirements to open a Medical Marijuana Dispensary, you must have a background that does not exclude your application.  If your background does not disqualify you, the Division will also look to other criteria of merit to determine whether or not to issue a Medical Marijuana establishment registration certificate.

No person who is proposed to be an owner, officer or board member of the Medical Marijuana establishment can have a conviction of an excluded felony offense.

Excluded felony offenses include:

• A crime of violence; or
• A violation of a state or federal law pertaining to controlled substances, if the law was punishable as a felony in the jurisdiction where the person was convicted.

The term does not include:

• A criminal offense for which the sentence, including any term of probation, incarceration or supervised release, was completed more than 10 years before; or
• An offense for involving conduct that would be immune from arrest, prosecution or penalty pursuant to sections 10 to 20, inclusive, of this act, except that the conduct occurred before April 1, 2014, or was prosecuted by an authority other than the state of Nevada.

No persons who are proposed owners, officers or board members of the proposed Medical Marijuana establishment have:

• Served as an owner, officer or board member for a medical marijuana establishment that has had its medical marijuana establishment registration certificate revoked; or
• Previously had a medical marijuana establishment agent registration card revoked.

Furthermore, none of the persons applying for the proposed medical marijuana establishment are under 21 years of age.

If you do have the permissible background to apply, the Division shall consider the following criteria of merit to determine whether to issue a registration certificate:

• Total financial resources, both liquid and illiquid;
• Previous experience at operating other businesses or nonprofit organizations;
• Educational achievements;
• Any demonstrated knowledge or expertise with respect to the compassionate use of marijuana to treat medical conditions;
• Whether the proposed location would be convenient to serve the needs of persons who are authorized to engage in the medical use of marijuana;
• The likely impact of the proposed medical marijuana establishment on the community in which it would be located;
• The adequacy of the size of the establishment to serve the needs of persons who are authorized to engage in the use of medical marijuana;
• Whether the applicant has an integrated plan for the care, quality and safekeeping of medical marijuana from seed to sale;
• The amount of taxes paid to, or other beneficial financial contributions made to, the State of Nevada; and
• Any other criteria of merit determined to be relevant.

The above criteria of merit are very broad and open.  Applicants should be sure to address each criteria area and not solely rely on financial qualifications.  There will be numerous applicants and very limited number of certificates that will be issued, therefore you should contact our office to ensure that all qualifications, criteria of merit and relevant information is included in your application, giving you the best chance of obtaining a certificate.

These are some of the many requirements under SB 374.  Contact The Law Offices of Garrett T. Ogata.

DISCLAIMER:  This is for information purposes only and is not legal advice.  Nor does this create an attorney-client relationship.  Always seek the advice in person of a licensed attorney.  Nevada law does change so it is important to talk to a licensed attorney in person.