Tribal lands could be the next frontier for the marijuana industry in Nevada.

From across the state, tribal leaders appeared at the Nevada Legislature last week to advocate for a bill that would enable tribes to enter into state compacts allowing the medical and recreational marijuana industry to take root on tribal land.

Almost all of the tribal leaders that testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday described high unemployment and poverty rates among their people and insisted that the marijuana industry could create jobs, revenue and other opportunities in their communities.

Two bills proposing differing methods for how Nevada should spend recreational marijuana tax revenue were heard Thursday by the Senate Revenue and Economic Development Committee.

Senate Bill 508 comes from Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office and lays out the proposed 10 percent special sales tax all recreational marijuana retail sales, which Sandoval hopes will generate nearly $70 million for his proposed two-year budget.

Sandoval’s proposal calls for all of the revenue from the special marijuana tax to go to the Distributive School Account, the state’s education fund.

Senate Bill 487, from the education committee and its chair, Sen. Julia Ratti, D-Sparks, calls for the same 10 percent tax, but divvies that revenue up beyond education funding.

A Nevada bill that would make all marijuana "candy" illegal is not going down smoothly with some industry leaders.

Nevada law already requires all marijuana products to be packaged in a way that is not appealing to children, but Senate Bill 344 take that mandate a step further.

The bill would make it illegal for edible marijuana products to contain sugar unless they are baked goods and to be labeled with images of cartoon characters, mascots, action figures, balloons, fruits or toys. Products also would not be able to be modeled after a brand of products primarily consumed by children, such as gummy bears or Teddy Grahams.

"This bill is just the start," said nonpartisan Sen. Patricia Farley, of Las Vegas, who has been working with industry leaders on the bill.

Everyone can agree that driving while stoned is dangerous, but how do states remedy the flawed science behind marijuana drug tests?

Gagan Singh rolled a “fat blunt” before he hit the slopes at Lake Tahoe on a sunny Wednesday morning.

By the end of the day, he needed a refill, so he drove to Reno and stopped at one of the local medical marijuana dispensaries. With his Patagonia jacket and bleached-blond man-bun, Singh was eager to head to his hotel and smoke.

The only reason he wouldn't be smoking while driving to the hotel was because he believes Nevada cops are stricter than the ones in the Bay Area.

Like many states, Illinois is in deep financial trouble. Looking at the latest audit,  its black hole has deepened to $9.6bn (£7.6bn) and, according to the state’s financial comptroller, the books are “abysmal”.

But there could be salvation at hand if it becomes the first state in the midwest to legalise and tax the recreational use of marijuana. Two Democrats in the state legislature have introduced a bill to change the law, arguing this could raise as much as $700m a year.

Should the bill go through, it would bring the number of states where recreational pot is legal up to nine. If you throw in Washington DC, then more than 80m Americans would be free to enjoy cannabis.

A Las Vegas Democrat is seeking to start recreational marijuana sales in Nevada at least a few weeks earlier than planned - in case something extends the state’s current timeline, he said at a hearing last Friday.

Sen. Tick Segerblom wants pot sales to begin by mid-June.

State regulators are already working toward a July 1 launch, which would be six months ahead of a voter-mandated deadline.

The state will be ready by then to license medical marijuana dispensaries to ring up the state’s first sales of pot bought for fun - not treatment, Department of Taxation Director Deonne Contine said.

On Monday, the Attorney General's office presents its budget to a joint Senate Finance, Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee.

Ways and Means Chairwoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, and other members have invited Attorney General Adam Laxalt to present his budget, noting other constitutional officers present their proposed spending plans in person. Even Gov. Brian Sandoval shows up to present key initiatives in his spending plan as he did two years ago for his education reforms.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear Assembly Bill 395, which makes a variety of changes to laws involving the community notification and registration of juvenile sex offenders, including providing the courts the ability to eliminate reporting and notification in certain cases.

It’s been less than three years since Nevada lawmakers put in place regulations allowing for the legal growth and sale of medical marijuana, and the budding industry has done more than just widely expand its customer base — it’s also become a player in the world of Nevada campaign finance.

Marijuana dispensaries, owners and growers gave $75,000 to legislators during the 2016 election cycle, with nearly half of the donations — $31,550 — going to Democratic Sen. Tick Segerblom, who in 2013 authored a bill establishing regulatory framework for medical marijuana dispensaries and is one of the industry’s biggest advocates.

A bill proposed Friday by Sen. Tick Segerblom would kick-start recreational marijuana sales in Nevada.

But a statement out of Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office could spell doom for the bill.

Senate Bill 302 would let medical marijuana dispensaries forgo the medical card requirement and sell cannabis to anyone 21 and older. The measure would allow for some sales for the drug while the Nevada Department of Taxation crafts permanent business regulations.

If passed, the bill would go into effect as soon as it is signed into law.

But therein lies the rub.

A task force created by Sandoval last month is working on essentially the same thing.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the medical cannabis patient advocacy group, recently released its annual report assigning letter grades to states based on the proficiency of their medical cannabis programs. The good news: 39 states improved their medical cannabis laws last year. The bad news: Six states have yet to legalize any form of medical cannabis, including CBD products, and many others still struggle with restrictive laws, limited access or daunting prices.