A private residence is the only everyday legal place to consume
Nevada's rule is narrow. The Cannabis Compliance Board puts it plainly in its Know the Law guidance: cannabis can be consumed on private property (at home, for example), and as long as the property owner has not prohibited it. That last clause does the work. NRS 678D.510(1)(c) provides that the adult-use chapter does not prohibit a person who occupies, owns or controls a privately owned property from prohibiting or otherwise restricting the smoking of cannabis on that property. A lease, an HOA covenant, a condo rule or a short-term rental agreement can therefore ban it, and Nevada's legalization law does not override any of them. Separately, NRS 202.2483 prohibits smoking in any form within indoor places of employment, and paragraph (g) of subsection 3 exempts private residences from that ban. So the clean version of the rule is this: your own home, or a home where the owner has told you it is fine.
- Property owner authority to prohibit
- NRS 678D.510(1)(c)
- Indoor smoking ban, private residence exemption
- NRS 202.2483(3)(g)
Hotels, casinos and resort property sit outside that permission
A Las Vegas resort is privately owned property with a gaming license attached, and both facts point the same way. Under NRS 678D.510(1)(c) the operator may prohibit or restrict the smoking of cannabis on its property. The Nevada Gaming Policy Committee's resolution regarding marijuana and gaming, adopted March 5, 2018, records that the Nevada Gaming Control Act and Nevada Gaming Commission Regulations require strict compliance with both state and federal law in the operation of licensed gaming in this State, and that the possession and consumption of marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The same resolution recommends that Nevada gaming licensees shall not participate in the marijuana industry. There is one common misreading worth clearing up. NRS 202.2483 does not apply to areas within casinos where loitering by minors is already prohibited by state law, which is why tobacco smoking continues on a gaming floor. That is a carve-out from the smoking statute, and subsection 4 of the same statute addresses cannabis separately: the only place it names is a cannabis consumption lounge. Neither NRS 678D nor the Cannabis Compliance Board names an exception for a gaming floor, and the Board's guidance is that you cannot use cannabis in any public place. Treat a gaming floor, a guest room, a balcony, a pool deck, a parking garage and a valet lane as places to keep the product sealed, and read the operator's own written policy.
- Gaming compliance standard recorded in the resolution
- Nevada Gaming Control Act and Nevada Gaming Commission Regulations, strict compliance with state and federal law
- Gaming Policy Committee resolution
- Adopted March 5, 2018
The $600 fine is the smaller half of the exposure
NRS 678D.310(3) makes it a misdemeanor, punished by a fine of not more than $600, to smoke or otherwise consume cannabis or a cannabis product in a public place, in an adult-use cannabis retail store or in a vehicle. Note the second item. You cannot consume what you just bought inside the store that sold it to you. The part people miss sits in NRS 678D.300, which lists the acts for which a person 21 or older is not exempt from state prosecution. Possessing cannabis in violation of NRS 453.336 is on that list if the possession is discovered because the person engaged in the adult use of cannabis in any public place, in any place open to the public or exposed to public view, or in any local detention facility, county jail, state prison, reformatory or other correctional facility. Possession on school property withdraws the exemption on its own, whether or not you consumed there. Public consumption therefore carries two distinct risks, not one. The prohibition in NRS 678D.310(3) is also written to yield to regulations adopted by the Board pursuant to NRS 678B.645, so read the current rule rather than assuming this text is fixed forever.
- Public place consumption penalty
- Misdemeanor, fine of not more than $600 (NRS 678D.310(3))
- Also covered by that subsection
- Adult-use cannabis retail stores and vehicles
- Possession exemption withdrawn
- NRS 678D.300(1)(d)
