‘Problem’ causes Nevada officials to shut down web registration for marijuana cards

"Our apologies. The online agent portal is temporarily down. It will be restored as soon as possible." (Screengrab/Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health)

Nevada officials shut down the state’s online registration system for medical marijuana cards Thursday while they investigate a “problem” with the web portal, according to a state spokeswoman.

“A problem was identified by the state with the medical marijuana portal. As a result, the portal was taken down as an investigation was commenced,” said Chrystal Main, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services.

That investigation, Main added, “is ongoing.”

Main would not elaborate on what the problem is and said the department could not provide any more information while the investigation was active.

“Nothing can be confirmed or substantiated until an investigation is complete,” Main said.

The link to the online registry portal is still on the state’s medical marijuana site, but the link is dead. Newly added text above the link reads: “Our apologies. The online agent portal is temporarily down. It will be restored as soon as possible.”

The portal allows for prospective patients to quickly apply for a medical marijuana card with the help of a dispensary and typically allows those patients to get their cannabis the same day they applied.

The state is still processing hard-copy applications, Main said. But those can take days or even weeks to process.

There are just over 25,000 medical marijuana cardholders in Nevada. Roughly 2,000 people apply for a new card or apply to renew an existing card each month, according to statistics from the state.

Main said there was no time frame for when the portal will be back online. She said only that it will be back “when the investigation is complete.”

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.