Cannabis industry consultant Christopher LaPorte stands in an empty, 2,000-square-foot room with walls as blank as a fresh canvas. Filtered light streams into the space from tinted, diamond-shaped windows—“So you can’t see inside,” LaPorte says, referencing a state regulation. The daylight illuminates the beginnings of a bar not for alcohol or gaming but rather for serving up a new kind of Las Vegas hospitality.
The room (and its connected patio) is shaping up to be one of the first state-regulated cannabis consumption lounges to open in the Las Vegas Valley. Nevada regulators recently announced the approval of the first conditional licenses for operating cannabis consumption lounges in the state—two of which are set to open in unincorporated Clark County.
LaPorte—once owner and operator of the former Downtown video game bar Insert Coin(s)— is working with one of those operators, Thrive Cannabis Marketplace, to develop a “social-use” lounge located in a separate room at the company’s dispensary on Sammy Davis Jr. Drive.
“I’m just excited about tapping into what I think is a missing component of Las Vegas nightlife,” LaPorte says. “Cannabis hospitality elevates the entire industry. … We’re proving what the market can look like.”
That vision must incorporate some stringent regulations from the state, including the aforementioned requirement that what happens in the lounge not be visible to anyone beyond the premises; tobacco and alcohol cannot be sold; and operators must have plans approved for staff training, safety and DUI mitigation.
When a customer walks into Thrive’s entrance, attendants at a front desk greet and direct them. Some are there for the dispensary, some will be there for the lounge and some might end up visiting both. But lounges, which are required to sell only single-use products, will not be the place to purchase products to take with you.
“If you’re going to purchase cannabis to leave, you’ll buy from the dispensary. … It’s like going into a bar. You don’t necessarily leave the bar with your bottle of Heineken, right? You enjoy what you consume in the space,” LaPorte says.
“What I think is interesting about this experience is when we have staff kind of guide you through [and] figure out what best suits you.”
Rather than speculating about which products or cannabis strains would work best for a customer, budtenders in lounges will be able to see how those products affect the customer and can tailor the experience better than if they were simply advising in a dispensary.
Furthermore, a reservation system will allow staff to learn more about customers and their prior cannabis experience before they even show up. “If you come in and you’re like, ‘I smoke four joints a week,’ [then] all right, you’re good. But if you’re someone who’s coming in, like, ‘I haven’t smoked since Woodstock,’ then we can show them all the fun stuff in the world today,” he says.
Planet 13 is the other Clark County dispensary to have already received approval of its lounge license. The massive dispensary just west of the Strip also looks forward to employees having an opportunity to further practice and develop their skill sets.
“We have a lot of budtenders and experts around cannabis,” says David Farris, vice president of sales and marketing with Planet 13. “And the idea of being able to offer an experience where they can explain cannabis to a consumer that is trying that product right in front of them, and describing the flavors and their experience and all those types of things, I think it’s very exciting for the staff and for the cannabis connoisseur.”
For lounge operators, this phase has been long-awaited. Although recreational cannabis dispensaries have been open since 2017, there are few spaces where it can be consumed legally. Per state law, it’s illegal to consume in hotel rooms or in any public place. But the unmistakable smell along the Strip corridor shows that many visitors are risking a citation and hefty fine just to enjoy the products they legally purchased here.
Farris says tourists and Strip visitors are expected to be a large customer base for the forthcoming lounge at Planet 13. “I think we are a popular place to visit as you’re coming to Vegas and you want to see the world’s largest dispensary,” he says.
With this being a first-of-its kind industry (with the exception of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe-operated Vegas Tasting Room at NuWu Cannabis Marketplace), the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board is ironing out lounge regulations as the licensing process unfolds. It’s seeking input and held a June 25 public hearing on a proposal to decrease ventilation requirements in consumption lounges.
Currently, regulations require a large number of air changes and other measures for health and safety and to mitigate secondhand smoke exposure. But operators have claimed requirements are “excessive” compared to other indoor smoking businesses—and would be expensive to implement.
“No one wants to go into a place that’s filled with smoke, and this won’t be any different,” LaPorte says, adding that Thrive’s plans include air purification, smoke eaters and ample filtration. “In terms of people behind the bar, working in the room itself is no different than a bar-restaurant like a PT’s Tavern.”
LaPorte also says the lounge will emphasize cannabis-infused bites and beverages as nonsmoking options that can still provide an enjoyable high. “We want to really showcase that there are so many other products,” he says.
Once construction and final preparations are completed, each licensee will be required to have a final inspection by Cannabis Compliance Board agents. Upon passing that and receiving any further approval from the local jurisdiction, the consumption lounge may open for business.
Planet 13 hopes to have its lounge open by early 2024, while Thrive aims to open its by October or November this year.
Although LaPorte expects the lounge will have many customers right out of the gate, he’s careful not to make too many assumptions about them.
“Like any other good nightlife or hospitality venue, you start to create your own kind of customer base,” he says. “I think what’s going to be exciting [is] that we can start to give a face to the Las Vegas cannabis community.”
H/T: lasvegasweekly.com
