Cannabis lounges were once seen as a promising new frontier in Nevada’s legal marijuana industry — the bedrock of a new Amsterdam-like weed tourism district in a Sin City on the cutting edge of hospitality innovation.
But four years after lawmakers opened the door for the businesses that offer the only place outside of a private home where people can legally consume cannabis — and one year after the business experiment began — the vision for dozens of barlike destinations has been a decided bust.
Just a single state-licensed consumption lounge remains open.
Experts point to a variety of reasons why the concept hasn’t succeeded or given the predicted boost to the legal cannabis industry, which has seen taxable sales decline 17 percent since 2021.
