As states slowly but inevitably continue to legalize cannabis medically or recreationally, we often need to be reminded that cannabis is still illegal on the federal level. Due to this widespread, ineffective prohibition, the cannabis industry and its many operators must follow a very extensive and strict set of parameters to ensure that they remain
California’s cannabis taxes are a disaster, with no end in sight. I’ve written about the state’s tax problems extensively, but today I want to talk about what the state can do when it comes to tax collection. Late cannabis taxes? Get used to hefty penalties If a licensed cannabis business fails to timely or fully
Mississippi’s Initiative 65 Easily one of the biggest legislative surprises of the 2020 was the passing of Mississippi’s Initiative 65, a medical cannabis bill with an extensive qualifying conditions list. In arguably the reddest and most socially conservative state in America — where only one Democrat has served as Governor since 1992, and where Republicans
Australia is said to have one of the highest cannabis prevalence rates in the world and public attitudes to its use are shifting. North American, European and other cannabis companies looking for investment opportunities would do well to follow these shifts. Growing cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes was legalized under federal law in 2016.
California has a population of nearly 40 million, six years of cannabis licensing, but only has about 1,200 licensed dispensaries. These stores are mostly spread out in highly populated areas like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and so on. The problem is that many California cities still prohibit cannabis licensing, even in places where a majority
Throughout the course of both of his initial candidacy and eventual presidency, the businessman-turned-reality TV star-turned-President and Republican frontrunner for the 2024 election, Donald Trump, had a rollercoaster of a political relationship with cannabis reform. From previous supportive comments to appointing people who were perhaps the physical embodiment of the failures of the drug war,
With every election season that comes, it’s become almost inevitable that at least one or two more of the states will legalize cannabis for either fully recreational usage or at least medical reasons. Even if it was but a midterm election, the 2022 election season still resulted in two more states legalizing cannabis for recreational
Friend of the firm Andrew DeWeese published a recent LinkedIn post on Oregon’s outlying stance on THCA the other day, and the priorities of local industry advocates. I wanted to highlight that post and discuss today– it’s a compelling post and I have all sorts of thoughts about it. Here it is: Let’s break it
Cannabis M&A (short for mergers and acquisitions) in California is much more complicated and problematic than in other states. The biggest reason for this is that licenses are not transferrable, which all but eliminates the possibility of asset sales. In turn, this means that deals are much more complicated for both buyer and seller, and
Similarly to many career politicians who now support criminal justice reform after decades of supporting the most unjust policing and sentencing laws, President Joe Biden has been notably lacking in keeping the pro-cannabis and criminal justice reform promises he ran on in the contentious and chaotic election that was 2020. Along with still referencing the
