After the legalization of recreational cannabis, Nevada has generated over a billion dollars in taxes for the state. While the marijuana industry has its ups and downs, the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe saw its opportunity to grow cannabis.
The tribe was the first in the state to open its doors to a dispensary (NuWu) and cannabis lounge (SkyHigh) located near downtown Las Vegas. On tribal land, tribes are not required to follow the same state mandates, like many taxes, thanks to their sovereignty. But rather than work against their competitors, the tribe chose to play on the same playing field.
“For people to say that we have an advantage and able to do things that state can’t do, that’s not true, not true at all,” said Benny Tso, the Chairman of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe.
The Paiutes are currently invested in the tobacco and cannabis space to create a stream of revenue to fund social services on the land. This includes healthcare for the youth and elders, infrastructure, and education. To ensure the tribes’ investment continues to grow, the tribe set higher cannabis regulations than the state.
With roughly 70 active cultivation facilities within Clark County, to Dave Colvin, the Las Vegas Paiute tribal attorney, the vertical integration just makes sense for the tribe.
“We can now provide ourselves with product,” Colvin said. “And you save money that way.”
Riana Durrett, the executive director of UNLV Cannabis Policy Institute and the vice chair of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board, has insight into an industry that is down in retail sales for the second year in a row. She also looks at the potential future of the wholesale cannabis industry and how the tribe might do within it.
“I imagine they will be one of the big players,” Durrett said.
“I think the Paiute tribe has been great for Nevada overall in making cannabis fun for Nevada,” she added. “We have so many tourist opportunities, and we have kind of a limited approach to how it’s sold in Nevada, with this dispensary system.”
Durrett says there is a significant portion of the population that continues to buy from the illegal market. A 2024 Cannabis Compliance Board study says that figure could be as high as one-third of all cannabis sales.
Thrive Cannabis Marketplace's Smoke and Mirrors, a social consumption lounge located off the Strip, closed on April 4 after being open for just over a year. This leaves the tribe's SkyHigh and Planet 13's Dazed Lounge. Durrett thinks lounges must evolve to offer something else.
“People don’t just go to a consumption lounge to consume,” she said. “It has to [have] entertainment [and be] a destination. NuWu is a destination regardless of the lounge.”
Guest: Benny Tso, chairman, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe; Dave Colvin, tribal attorney, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe; Riana Durrett, executive director of UNLV Cannabis Policy Institute and the vice chair of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board
