COUNCIL MEMBER SAYS LETTER WILL BECOME ‘PART OF THE PROCESS’

ter “won’t slow us down.”

Casinos in downtown Las Vegas have “been quiet” on the issue, he said.

Coffin said city officials have been moving slowly on the issue and that Valentine’s letter will be “part of the process” as city officials weigh opinions from advocacy groups. A city advisory committee will likely move the pot lounge proposal forward to be heard by the City Council in late October or early November, Coffin said.

The resort association’s letter seems to contradict the opinion of some leading gaming operators in the Las Vegas Valley, which have previously advocated for lounges as havens for marijuana users to consume pot instead of inside casinos.

Speaking last year in favor of weed lounges as part of a Clark County marijuana advisory panel, Andy Abboud, senior vice president of Las Vegas Sands Corp., said the lounges would reduce the number of tourists who smuggle marijuana into their hotel rooms and discreetly use it in prohibited places. The panel pushed for consumption lounges off the Strip.

Valentine and other representatives from the Nevada Resort Association did not respond to requests for comment.

Riana Durrett, the Nevada Dispensary Association’s executive director, said the state’s leading pot advocacy organization remained neutral on the bill. Its more than 50 members are split on the lounges.

“It really varies by dispensary and by owner,” Durrett said. “The association doesn’t take a stance on it.”