A district judge on Friday temporarily halted any effort by the Department of Taxation to license additional distributors of recreational marijuana other than liquor wholesalers.
The order sought by the Independent Alcohol Distributors of Nevada was granted by District Judge James Todd Russell after he said the tax agency at a Thursday meeting appeared to have a predetermined outcome in place in support of allowing more than just liquor wholesalers to distribute pot from grow facilities to retail establishments.
Taxation Executive Director Deonne Contine at that meeting found that the number of liquor wholesalers was inadequate, and she said the agency would license marijuana businesses to distribute pot as well. She said the liquor industry was not adequate to maintain a supply of the legal drug and that tax collections could suffer as a result.