UNLV's football team reaches the Mountain West Championship game for the very first time, plus... the university itself looks to provide the public policy it says the cannabis industry lacks.

That's this week on Nevada Week.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

Welcome to Nevada Week.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

UNLV recently launched the state's first-ever Cannabis Policy Institute.

Ahead, its director explains why it's so needed in Nevada and nationwide.

But first, let's talk about UNLV's football team set to make history on Saturday, December 2, when the Rebels play in their very first Mountain West Championship game.

This milestone, part of an historic season that Mike Grimala, Sports Reporter from the Las Vegas Sun, has followed since its start.

Mike, welcome to Nevada Week.

(Mike Grimala) Thanks.

-Back when I covered sports at Channel 3, you and I witnessed several very tough seasons for the Rebels, saw a few coaches come and go.

What has been the difference this season?

-You're way too kind to call them tough seasons.

It was just decades of the worst football you could probably imagine at the college level.

The difference this year is the program has been over the past few years really investing in the football team.

The university has been spending money, they paid a coach finally, and the coaching staff has just turned it around.

It only took one season.

But, yeah, big difference this year, in the way.

You remember the final season, you covered UNLV football.

And the way it's run now, it's completely different.

-When you say they finally paid a coach, what do you mean by that?

-Barry Odom is in his first year at UNLV.

He's the highest paid coach in the Mountain West.

And for the entire existence of the program, basically, UNLV has always been towards the bottom of the Mountain West, you know.

Tony Sanchez, coaches that came before him, very low paid.

Not a lot of money for assistant coaches, which is a big deal in college football because those are the guys who are doing a lot of your recruiting.

Those are the guys who are doing your hands-on coaching during practice.

And there's a lot of assistance.

It's a big pool.

You need a lot of money to pay guys.

UNLV has never really put up what it takes to fill a really good coaching staff until now.

And they've got maybe the best staff in the conference, and you're seeing the results on the field.

-So not just the head coach, but the assistant coaching staff as well.

And Head Coach Barry Odom named Mountain West Coach of the Year recently.

And as you wrote, "a likely candidate for National Coach of the Year."

What makes him so special?

-I think he had a plan, and he really hasn't had to deviate from it much.

But he's shored up some areas that have really hurt UNLV in the past.

They've got more depth than they've had in recent years.

He brought in some immediate impact players from the transfer portal.

Special teams is good, which, you know, it's something that's been overlooked at UNLV forever.

It's sort of a running joke among people who cover the team.

Their special teams are just comically bad.

Except this year, now they're the best.

They've got the best kicker in the country.

They've got one of the best kick returners.

They're really good at that now.

That's something that's completely unique to Barry Odom and his staff, that they've been able to transform it in one season.

But it's just that reliability.

The players really play hard for him and practice hard for him.

If you see a UNLV practice, they're going full speed a lot.

The players really take it seriously.

The intensity is always high in practice.

So I think that's been one of the biggest differences he's been able to make.

-It's wild he's been able to do it in just one season, because typically it will take a college coach a couple seasons to recruit a roster that they like.

Of the standouts on this team, how many is he responsible for recruiting?

-You know, it's a good split.

Marcus Arroyo was the previous coach.

He was here for three years.

He did leave behind some good players.

Their starting quarterback now is Jayden Maiava.

He's a freshman, local kid.

He played at Liberty.

He was a recruit under Marcus Arroyo.

He stepped in early this year, and he's been really good at quarterback.

Their top receiver, Ricky White, he could be an All-American.

He's about to set the team record for receiving in a season.

He's a guy that transferred in under Marcus Arroyo.

Barry Odom has also put his stamp on the program.

He went into the transfer portal.

He brought Jackson Woodard who's a linebacker.

He played under Barry Odom at his previous school.

He came via the portal, and now he's the best linebacker in the Mountain West.

And he's really been the leader on defense.

That kicker was brought in by Barry Odom.

A lot of their first team, all Mountain West players, were brought in by Barry Odom.

So there's a split there.

-You brought up that receiving record that may be broken.

Will you tell our viewers about the rushing attack, though, and the record that the Rebels currently hold right now?

-Yeah.

When I'm talking about the assistant coaches that they've put together and the staff, you know the top name there is Brennan Marion, who's their offensive coordinator.

He's a young up-and-coming guy.

And he runs an offense that's unique to him.

No other school in the country runs this offense.

It's two or three running backs at a time, crazy formations in the backfield.

They're running the ball in a lot of different ways.

And they've got a stable of four or five running backs that they use every game, and they just grind the opposing teams down.

They lead the country in rushing touchdowns.

The country, not the Mountain West.

-The country?

-The entire country.

More than Alabama, more than Georgia, any other team thrown out there.

They got, I think, 36 rushing touchdowns, number one in the country.

They are top 25 in rushing yards, rushing yards per attempt.

It's just a really dynamic running game.

And it's weird because you can't really point to one player that's doing it.

There's not one star running back or one great player.

It's really the offensive line and then the stable of backs where they all get carries, they all get touches, and they're all like very, very productive.

And that's Brennan Marion who's running that whole show on offense.

-Wow!

As for the Mountain West Conference Championship game itself, the Rebels face Boise State.

At last check, because we're taping this on Thursday morning, the Rebels are two-point underdogs against the Broncos.

As you've written, these teams couldn't be more different than each other from a historical perspective.

How so?

-Boise State is royalty in the Mountain West.

They're in the championship game every year.

They're in the top 25 just about every year.

They're always in a good Bowl game playing against a marquee opponent.

They get all the best recruits, spend a lot of money on their football team, and that's just the polar opposite of what UNLV has been for decades.

And now in one season, all of a sudden UNLV is playing in the Mountain West Championship game, hosting the Championship game because they were the No.

1 seed.

And now they're hosting Boise State.

And it's, you know, I try not to get caught up in the storylines and the narratives, but you've got a real chance for like a David/Goliath and also like a passing of the torch maybe.

Because if UNLV is really serious about football and Barry Odom sticks around for a little bit, UNLV-- this might not be a one-year wonder for UNLV.

They could maybe find themselves in that Boise State role of there at the top of the Conference and the team recruits want to play for.

So I know Barry Odom talked about it in his press conference this week.

He doesn't want this to be a one season, sort of a fluke.

He wants to be back there every year.

So I think Boise State is kind of the perfect opponent to add that sizzle to the Championship game from that perspective.

-How cool is it that they get to actually host this game at Allegiant Stadium?

So home-field advantage for the Rebels.

Allegiant Stadium was touted as a potential game changer in recruiting for the Rebels.

Has it been that?

-You know, I don't think that-- Allegiant Stadium, it's a great venue.

I'm sure the team loves playing there.

For recruiting, I don't think that the stadium matters so much as they built this Fertitta Football Complex on campus.

It's right next to their-- right next to their practice fields.

It's three stories.

It's huge.

It's got their own workout room.

And so when we talk about UNLV of the past, this is a football team where you've got 100 players, 50-something coaches and admins.

They didn't have their own building on campus.

They're sharing, you know, office space with all these other teams and these other classrooms.

And so getting that facility built in the past, I think it was five years ago the building's been up and running.

I think that's probably more important than the stadium from a recruiting standpoint, because when you're a football player at the Division 1 level, you don't live in your dorm or in your apartment.

You live at the football facility.

You live in that building.

That's where you're spending your time, where you're eating your meals, where you're watching your film.

That's where you're just hanging out with your friends.

So building that facility on campus right there I think was probably more impactful than the stadium.

The stadium does help.

But when you bring recruits on campus now, it's like, Look at this facility!

Here's your weight room.

Here's this.

Here's that.

Here's your video game consul.

Here's everything.

And it's really top of the line when you compare it to other Mountain West schools.

-And Tony Sanchez should get credit for helping get the funding for that facility.

-He should.

Tony Sanchez built that building, and he gets, I would say, all the credit for it.

-Saturday is the Conference Championship.

Sunday, December 3, is when we learn what Bowl game the Rebels might go to.

Any ideas of who they may face?

-If they win, they go to the LA Bowl--that's locked in--where they would play a Pac-12 opponent.

It's the final year of the Pac-12 as we know it, but most of the teams projected to-- most of the projections would have them playing UCLA or USC in that game, which would be a great outcome for UNLV because that's an area you want to recruit.

You want eyes on you in Southern California.

And those are two high-profile programs.

A lot of people will watch.

That would be a great outcome.

If they lose, there's three or four different places they could end up.

They could end up in the New Mexico Bowl.

They could end up in the Hawaii Bowl.

They could end up in Idaho.

So it's not really locked in.

If they win, they know.

If they lose, they'll wait until Sunday.

-Okay.

A lot of options there.

Thank you, Mike Grimala, for joining us on Nevada Week.

The Las Vegas Sun.

-Thanks.

-From UNLV football to UNLV's new Cannabis Policy Institute.

The first of its kind in Nevada, officials believe the Institute will have a nationwide impact.

Among them is Riana Durrett, Director of the UNLV Cannabis Policy Institute.

She's also the Vice Chair of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board.

Riana, thank you for joining Nevada Week.

(Riana Durrett) Thank you for having me.

-Why is UNLV a good home for this institute?

-Many reasons.

A few of them include UNLV is an R1 classified research institute, according to Carnegie classification.

So we already have the infrastructure there to conduct research, disseminate research, so it's a good home for it.

That cannabis policy, cannabis research is-- there hasn't been as much around it as people would like.

While the industry grows rapidly and rules change rapidly, UNLV can be a place to keep up with those changes.

And then finally, I would say we're unique in that we, you know, we have tourism in Southern Nevada that no other state has.

We have unique qualities, but also, finally, UNLV has tested these concepts before of policy institutes, and we've done well: the International Gaming Institute, the Center for Business and Economic Research, Brookings Mountain West.

We're really good at developing these institutes.

-And I would imagine Nevada being one of the first states to get into marijuana helps as well, or does it?

-Exactly.

We were one of the first in that first group of states to legalize adult use, and many states did look at our regulations as a model for theirs.

Just for example, our testing regulations are looked at through various states, and we have some of the strictest in the country.

So we can help provide guidance.

-In your experience in this industry, you have several years of experience in marijuana law and policy, what is the most important public policy research needed in the cannabis industry right now?

-There's a long list.

But again, I'll start with just a few.

One of the hot topics today is rescheduling.

President Biden has advised his administration to look into rescheduling, meaning taking it from a Schedule 1 prohibition, which is alongside heroin, to a lower schedule with perhaps less penalties, less prohibitions.

The Department of Health and Human Services has recommended rescheduling to a Schedule 3.

The main changes of that would be perhaps more avenues for research and lower the tax penalties that these businesses face.

Those are some of the primary penalties.

But there's lots of questions around it, because this-- what all impacts will this have?

So that's a hot topic of the day and one that we are already looking at scheduling panel discussions, writing articles about.

That is one a lot of people should be interested in.

Even if they have nothing to do with cannabis, even if they feel like this doesn't impact us, it could in some way; for example, banking, health, universities, gaming, etc.

How does it impact all of those areas?

Another would be the financial struggles of the market, because I think it's widely believed that they are highly profitable.

There's a green rush of green-- some people, I often hear that, They're just printing money.

So I think this misconception about the financial status of these companies is very interesting.

And related to that is the illegal market and its prevalence and surprising strength of the illegal market.

And then finally, just an another one we're very interested in, is tourism, of course, because that's a natural fit for us.

-So with the financial struggles, what is the reality of the cannabis industry?

How profitable is it?

-So a report was released in the last few months from Whitney Economics stating that about 25% of them are profitable, which I think that is widely unknown.

In addition to that, there's a book I find very valuable.

It's called Will Legal Weed Win or something like that.

It's about whether the industry is even economically viable.

The entire industry, is it economically viable?

Because a lot of their costs are a lot higher than people expected.

Challenges are a lot higher than people expected.

Illegal market, it has a stronghold more so than people expected.

And there are significant taxes at the state and local level, and they pay significant, kind of, tax penalties at the federal level.

So it's not-- the margins aren't as large as people expected.

-Let's break that down a little bit.

Because the rescheduling could impact the business struggles that they're facing, how so?

If this was rescheduled from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3, how would that benefit them financially?

-There are a lot of questions around rescheduling.

One thing that could happen if it's moved from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 is an IRS code that applies to Schedule 1 substances would no longer apply.

And so they would no longer-- they would, it would allow them to take business deductions.

Right now under Schedule 1, they can't take standard business deductions, which, especially small business owners know, that's where a lot of where your ability to make money comes in.

Those business deductions, that increases your margins.

So if it is moved to Schedule 3, that will ease up the pressures on them quite a bit.

-The illegal market-- still, is that strong?

-Yes.

Nevada has commissioned a report that will kind of help us get an idea of how strong it is in Nevada, because we don't have those numbers.

Based on what we see, it appears it's very active.

If you just go online, you can find illegal companies that appear very sophisticated, very successful.

Their channels of distribution are sophisticated.

A lot of people wouldn't even know they were illegal.

It's widely believed that a lot of illegal product comes from California.

That has a very big illegal market.

So it's very likely our illegal market numbers are going to be very high.

-That's so wild to me.

I would think now that it's legal in certain states for recreational use, you would want to go to an actual facility and be, you know, above board with everything.

But that's not happening.

-Right.

Right, some people are going to support the legal.

Some people have made that switch.

-Certainly.

-But the result of buying on the illegal market is we lose out on tax revenue and then you're consuming untested products that have been found to have heavy metals, pesticides, harmful products.

But, exactly, this is I think a surprise to a lot of people that people find their, the illegal market, to be such a-- so attractive.

But it's for a variety of reasons.

One, I think a lot of people, a lot of tourists anyway, probably they don't know necessarily the difference because the illegal market appears like a legitimate business in some ways.

-Really?

And this is from people looking just online?

-Right, exactly.

Exactly.

-And they physically go to a location that appears to be?

-No.

They have it delivered.

-Have it delivered.

-Right, yeah.

-Wow!

So these are some of the public policies you're going to be looking to explore and inform people about so that you can address them and make this industry profitable or more profitable.

I looked at some of the numbers from the Nevada Department of Taxation.

And for taxable sales 2021, they surpassed a billion dollars in Nevada.

But then the next fiscal year, only 965 million.

And then the 2023 fiscal year, 848 million.

What is behind this decline in sales do you think?

-Yeah.

You definitely want to see those numbers going up if you're a business owner.

And if you, if you have, you know, tax revenue coming in from this, you want to see your tax revenue going up.

It could be a variety of factors.

I've heard a theory that when the businesses were shut down during COVID, people reverted back to the illegal market.

Another one could be that prices have compressed, and they haven't gone back up.

So you'll see less, the sales amounts being lower, tax revenue being lower as a result.

Several states have seen quite a drop in tax revenue after time because, like I said, sales being compressed-- -So inflation has not impacted the cannabis industry?

-Oh, gosh, you'd have to ask an economist about that.

[laughter] -But there's a variety of theories.

And it is a big concern for those that are, you know, invested in it and for the, I would imagine, for the state that makes projections on these numbers and expects to see them growing, not declining.

-Not declining.

It's interesting.

And this always seems to get brought up on the topic of education funding in Nevada: Where is the marijuana money?

Why hasn't that taken care of the woes in education funding in Nevada?

And your answer to that would be?

-Yeah.

The funding that was indicated that it would be sent to public education funding, it was sent to public education funding.

There was an additional amount that was sent to the rainy day fund, but a statute has now reverted that back to public education.

So all the funding is going to public education.

It's not an amount that would vastly overhaul our current education budget.

It's not-- it's not something to sneeze at or, you know, take for granted, but it's not something that would completely change the face of public education.

-Some people looked as it's going to solve everything.

But yeah, when you look at-- so if it's a billion dollar industry in the state and you're taxing these companies I think about between 10 and 15%, that's going to be about $100 million a year in tax revenue for education, which this year's fiscal budget for education was $6 billion.

So it's just a small part of it, you know?

-Right.

Again, it's-- I think it's helpful to the state, especially because given the fact that these sales are occurring, people in every state consume cannabis.

It's the number one intoxicant around the world.

As long as people are going to be making these purchases, let's regulate it.

Let's collect the revenue on it.

Let's collect as much of the revenue on these sales that are going to take place anyway as we can.

But exactly, that amount will never be $6 billion.

-And for those who say, Well, then tax those marijuana businesses more; let's get more education funding, what would you say?

-Think they're tax, they're maxed out on their tax level.

There's a-- there's a 10% tax, a wholesale, or 15%.

There's another 10% at retail.

It's a significant amount of taxes that most businesses couldn't survive if they paid that amount of taxes.

The rate is as high as it can, and we have to look at other ways to increase that revenue other than increasing the rate.

-Okay, another area that you'll be researching.

The social equity aspect of the cannabis industry, the state in the 2021 legislative session set aside a certain number of social equity applicant licenses for cannabis consumption lounges.

The social equity applicant definition the state broadly defined as, quote, An applicant that has been adversely affected by previous laws that criminalized activity relating to cannabis.

This is in reference to the war on drugs, which disproportionately impacted people of color.

A'Esha Goins, who is an expert in cannabis policy and particularly in this area, helped explain this on our show last year.

Let's listen.

-The war on drugs was really a war on people, right?

And what it was, was an initiator to lock up people of color.

It gives me great disdain to even talk about it, because I'll always feel like I'm trying to justify the importance of a body of people, right, their importance of having to be in this industry or given the option to be in this industry.

The reality of it is, is we should not be making millions of dollars and just completely wipe away what happened to a generation of people, generations of people, because it's been 30 something years.

So.... -All right.

So the question that the state faced was, how do we make up for these past wrongs, and these social equity applications were part of their answer, even offering them at a reduced rate, a discount of 75%.

How well do you think that addresses social equity in the cannabis industry?

-She's great.

I have her teach my cannabis law class every semester.

I defer to her often on these issues.

I think the consumption lounges are, unfortunately, not the panacea.

I think she would agree.

I think-- there has already been quite a bit of research in this area, a lot of data collected on what various states are doing, and Nevada certainly has room for improvement.

One of the struggles is licensing may not be the answer, because the licensing doesn't necessarily bring you the resources you need to make it successful.

A lot of people who have, who already have financial backing have not been successful.

So if you are entering the market when you don't have the financial backing, it's a big struggle.

I think there are some groups that will do well.

They have.

They're incredibly smart.

They put so much work into it.

So I think there's some that will do well.

I look forward to, potentially, some sort of hybrid way to get into the industry but have support and not be responsible for all the overhead and the success of, of these big-- of a bigger company.

So something like a joint venture agreement, a micro licensing.

This needs to be worked out, but I very much look forward to the people who will be at the table working out something like that.

-Last thing.

We're running out of time.

When might we see a cannabis consumption lounge in a casino?

The first one in Nevada not on tribal land is set to open later this year, but that's not in a casino.

When might we see one in a casino?

-There are opinions on either end of the spectrum.

Some people believe that will happen soon and that some gaming companies are just-- are just busting at the seams ready to do this.

I lean towards the more conservative side of they've shut down those conversations.

I don't think that's going to happen for a while.

But I do think today we need to start talking about when will it happen and what will it look like so we're well prepared and so we can be, as we have been in many ways, the jurisdiction that people look to, to do it successfully.

-And that is because currently they cannot.

Gaming operators cannot be in this industry.

Riana Durrett, thank you so much for coming on Nevada Week.

And thank you for watching.

For any of the resources discussed, go to our website, vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.

And I'll see you next week on Nevada Week.

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