I’ve been representing clients in California’s cannabis industry since 2018. Our firm has been representing businesses in the space for many years before that, in states with more mature licensing programs. One of the most common mistakes we see in new cannabis markets is businesses that rely too much on federal legalization happening. For example,
At the beginning of the summer, I wrote a post entitled “California Gives Up on the Illegal Cannabis Market” in which I went into detail about the state’s failure to meaningfully address the festering illegal market. More recently, I wrote about “Another California Cannabis Enforcement Program That Won’t Work.” As the name suggests, this post was
Earlier this week, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta announced yet another cannabis enforcement program: the Cannabis Administrative Prosecutor Program (CAPP). CAPP is the newest of California’s ever-growing list of acronym enforcement programs, alongside EPIC (previously CAMP), UCETF, alongside countless other county and local agencies. Will the new enforcement program make a dent in the illegal
It’s no secret that the cannabis industry is on a steep decline in a variety of states, including California. We have time and again written about the specific woes plaguing the California cannabis industry. High taxes, a staggering credit crunch and collections problems, receiverships, rampant local prohibition, overregulation by the state, and the raging illegal
On the heels of my last post discussing the limited situations under which a lawsuit can be filed against a cannabis business owner, today’s post will kick off a series of other ways you can protect yourself and exert leverage in a lawsuit. This is a key question as so many in the cannabis industry
Over the last five years, I’ve done countless compliance reviews for cannabis product and CBD product labels, packaging materials, and products themselves. In all cases – not most, all – cannabis product labels needed at least one change. Product type, shape, and ingredients often needed work. And even packaging material has had plenty of issues.
The cannabis industry is hurting right now, and most everyone is feeling it. As new and old clients consider pursuing breach of contract and other claims against cannabis businesses that are failing, one question seems to come up again and again: can we sue the owner(s) of the cannabis company personally for the company’s failures
California’s cannabis industry is a mess. Between the rampant illegal market, onerous taxation, unnecessarily complicated regulations, debt defaults, and a host of other factors, things have never been worse. Businesses big and small are imploding. Without federal bankruptcy protection, the best tool available to insolvent and nearly insolvent companies is gone. So we’re going to
Whether you’re the kind of person who wants to End the Fed, or the kind of person who wants to tax the rich like a Scandinavian nation, you’ll probably agree on one thing: cannabis taxation is a problem. And it’s not just a small one. It’s theft. If I (or basically anyone else) had to
California has the biggest legal cannabis market in the world – it’s a larger economy than some small nations. But while the Golden State’s regulated market is massive, it’s illegal market is far bigger. California has a big illegal cannabis market problem Back in 2019, I quoted reports that there were 3,000 illegal businesses in
