Medical pot spawns other Nev. businesses
By Andrea Domanick, Las Vegas Sun
It has been a busy weekend for lawyer Alicia Ashcraft.
For the past few days, the managing partner at Ashcraft & Barr, a local firm specializing in business regulation, has been unpacking boxes and putting the finishing touches on its newly expanded office. In December, Ashcraft & Barr partnered with Colorado-based marijuana law experts Vicente Sederberg to form a practice dedicated to serving the needs of Nevada’s budding medical marijuana industry.
The firm is one of several ancillary businesses cropping up throughout the state that are capitalizing on the growing demand for cannabis-related products and services. With the arrival of commercial producers and dispensaries comes a new set of market needs, from accessory vendors to greenhouse manufacturers and security officers to lawyers.
Legal cannabis sales in the United States ballooned 74 percent in 2014, to $2.7 billion from $1.5 billion in 2013. The market in Nevada is expected to grow 341 percent in 2015, according to ArcView Group, a market research firm and investment network specializing in legal cannabis.