Lots of green figures
Marijuana sales top targets; tax revenue sets mark
Fmay be for lovers, but it is also apparently for marijuana, according to the latest state data. Nevada stores raked in $35.35 million in recreational pot sales during February, marking the third-highest monthly total since recreational marijuana became legal to sell in July.
Bill Anderson, executive director of the Nevada Department of Taxation, said those strong sales numbers can be attributed to a handful of events that occured in February.
“Most notably the Super Bowl,” Anderson told the Las Vegas Review-journal on Monday.
“The industry is impacted by those special kinds of events,” Anderson said. “The marijuana industry has some unique characteristics, and we’re learning those as we move along here.”
In February, the state took in a record $5.95 million in tax revenue
MARIJUANA
liability issues regarding impaired patrons on-site.
One marijuana businessman who is interested in a lounge is John Mueller, head of Acres Cannabis near Sahara and Western avenues.
On Friday — marijuana patrons consider April 20 an unofficial holiday — Mueller opened a marketplace of sorts for Nevada marijuana vendors inside his 19,000-squarefoot dispensary.
Not only has Mueller expanded his retail footprint, but he plans to add to his cultivation center in Amargosa Valley, he said. About 40 employees work at the cultivation center, and another 40 or so work at the store.
Customers see workers rolling and grinding marijuana in a kitchen beyond the marketplace. Looking to get into events, Muller plans to host the first wedding inside his dispensary next month.
Parker Junger, marketing director for Exhale Nevada, located near Arville Street and Flamingo Road, said his dispensary wants to market more toward medical patients.
To attract more locals, the dispensary started a loyalty program with redeemable points awarded for money spent. Exhale has about 50 employees between its store and warehouse.
Marketing is hard for dispensaries, especially when they can’t pay for published ads on websites like Facebook, Junger said. A lot of time is still spent on educating customers.
“We dispel myths,” Junger said. “Not everything gives you munchies and makes you sleep.”
Contact Wade Tyler Millward at wmillward@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4602. Follow @wademillward on Twitter.