By and large, cannabis businesses are small businesses. We’ve represented hundreds of these businesses over the years, in many states. Within these businesses one finds many kinds of people. They include legacy operators transitioning from traditional markets, to well-heeled investors coming from industries like banking and private equity. And everyone in between. Of course, performance
I’ve preached before on the blog about how often our firm gets pulled into M&A deals where the parties have screwed up reporting the transaction to cannabis regulators on both the state and local levels. In California, in particular, changes of ownership have been a painful affair where the Bureau of Cannabis Control (“BCC”) routinely
On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) released its first statement via a consumer update regarding Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (“Delta-8 THC”). The agency decided to provide consumers with key information surrounding the popular cannabinoid following a sharp increase in adverse event reports involving the substance and unauthorized marketing practices directed at minors. If you
We don’t write about criminal cases often, but a recent decision from the Minnesota Court of Appeals caught my eye because of its potential impact on the people of Minnesota and businesses engaged in processing, manufacturing, possession, or selling of Hemp/CBD in Minnesota. This ruling affects manufacturers, processors, sellers, distributors, and consumers of any liquid
Puerto Rico Representative Héctor Ferrer Santiago plans to introduce a bill this month to decriminalize adult-use cannabis. In addition, he raised the prospect of a separate bill that would “regulate where [cannabis] can be consumed and under which circumstances, as with [tobacco].” Medical cannabis is already legal on the island. This would not be the
Many people ignore or just don’t want to believe the fact that, until recently, California was a bit of a villain when it comes to the manufacture, distribution, and sale of industrial hemp derived products, namely hemp CBD in food, beverages, dietary supplements, animal products, and cosmetics. However, AB-45 is going to change all of
In my last post in this series, I ran through a detailed list of some of the more common conditions to closing you’ll see in the run-of-the-mill cannabis business purchase. Today, I want to do something similar, but instead with representations and warranties. In M&A contracts, the parties make various legal promises. Promises to do
Every state has some form of open records laws. Most of us have probably heard of the Freedom of Information Action (“FOIA”) which is the federal open records law. The purpose of the FOIA according to the U.S. Supreme Court is “to ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society, needed
On September 8, 2021, the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) published proposed emergency cannabis regulations. These emergency regulations harmonize the previous regulations that were ported over from the prior three agencies into one combined set, and they modify some of those rules and add also new ones. The DCC also published a revised set
Over the years in my practice, including several instances in the past six months, I have advised cannabis business owners when a former partner has come back to haunt the business operations, usually looking for some type of payout based on a prior conversation or an agreement originally inked upon a lost napkin or envelope.
