When advocates pushed for the legalization of marijuana in Nevada, one of their arguments in favor of the policy was anticipated elimination of the drug’s black market.
Those expectations have not materialized, according to a review of police and court records and interviews with experts. In fact, robberies and killings linked to black market marijuana transactions have persisted in Southern Nevada over the decade since Nevada voters approved legalizing the recreational use, possession and sale of cannabis. In a four-month span this year, there were three killings in Las Vegas with links to cannabis, two of them involving robberies, according to Metropolitan Police Department records.
