At first blush the meaning of the phrase “public place” seems straightforward, but this seemingly common phrase is, in fact, hotly disputed and at the heart of the debate over the legality of recreational marijuana consumption establishments. Several months ago, the Nevada Law Journal Forum, housed at the University of Nevada Las Vegas Boyd School of Law, held a daylong symposium. The symposium was held in conjunction with publication of the journal’s white paper, “The Elephant in Nevada’s Hotel Rooms: Social Consumption of Recreational Marijuana, a Survey of Law, and Solutions.” The white paper cleverly frames the unique problem facing state and local lawmakers: recreational marijuana is legal to buy, legal to have and legal to use but tourists have no legal place to consume it.
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