Nevada legalized recreational marijuana back in 2016. It is easy to buy pot throughout Sin City as long as you have the money to do so. However, public consumption is not allowed. People can only smoke weed in licensed marijuana lounges and private residences. Enter a brand-new hotel that claims to be Sin City’s first cannabis-friendly hotel.
The hotel’s owner purchased one of the city’s most well-known and risqué hotels known as The Lexi. Legend has it that The Lexi Used to be Vegas’s top spot for wild and private sex parties. Its new owner wants to put that past behind his property. Instead, he wants The Lexi to be known as a “cannabis-inclusive” property. However, there is a problem.
Operating a Gray Area
The Lexi does not have a license to sell cannabis. No worries – sales will not be allowed. But it is also not a licensed marijuana lounge. Ownership is relying on a gray area in state law they believe allows hotel guests to smoke weed in their rooms.
State law defining private residences seems to exclude hotels and motels. However, a general understanding of residency laws also seems to suggest that the space inside a guest room might qualify as residential space for as long as the room is occupied.
Simply put, a hotel property itself isn’t a residence under state law. But the space inside individual rooms might be. No one seems to know for sure. As a result, The Lexi’s ownership is willing to take its chances. They are betting that neither local nor state officials are going to say a word about what goes on at the property.
In fairness, cannabis consumption will not be allowed in public areas. It won’t even be allowed in the top-optional pool area. The only place on property where smoking weed will be allowed is inside guest rooms.
It’s How Pot Became Legal
Whether or not you think Las Vegas should move to shut The Lexi down, you need to admire its owner’s willingness to push the envelope as far as it will go. That’s how pot became legal in some 40 states and the District of Columbia. Someone had to start pushing to see if the government would push back. And when they didn’t, that was that.
Few people will be surprised if The Lexi is allowed to operate unabated. Assuming that this happens, it won’t be long before other Vegas hotels begin green lighting in-room cannabis consumption. But there is something else to consider: smoke residue.
Hotels ban smoking because health regulations require it. But few hotel owners are complaining. Cigarette smoke leaves behind a terrible odor that can be nearly impossible to remove without ditching carpets, linens, and window treatments. Will hotels have the same problem with marijuana smoke?
It Wouldn’t Fly Just Anywhere
Pushing the envelope in Las Vegas isn’t out of the ordinary. But The Lexi wouldn’t fly just anywhere. A similar hotel could never open in Brigham City, Utah, where the Beehive Farmacy operates as one of only 15 legal marijuana pharmacies in the entire state.
Utah is committed to maintaining a tightly controlled medical program. Pushing the envelope in the Beehive State will definitely get you in trouble. But in Las Vegas, what happens there stays there. That is the attitude.
All eyes will be on The Lexi as both a business entity and an envelope-pushing cannabis enterprise. If the hotel is spared interference by local and state officials, they will have started a trend. Expect that trend to spread throughout the state like wildfire. Then there is no telling how far it goes.
