canna law blog

California Sales Tax: Good News for Cultivators!

California cannabis businesses are now acquiring temporary permits to enter the new cannabis marketplace made possible under MAURSCA. As part of that process, all cannabis businesses have been introduced to the California Department of Fee and Tax Administration (“CDTFA”), the agency tasked with administering the new cannabis cultivation taxes and sales tax. The CDTFA administers

canna law blog

California Announces End Date for Collectives and Cooperatives

This week, the Bureau of Cannabis Control (the “BCC”) announced that as of January 9, 2019, Section 11362.775 of the Health and Safety Code (the “Code”) will no longer be in effect. The BCC notice ends the popular collective and cooperative models of cannabis cultivation, manufacturing and distribution in California. These models were promulgated through

canna law blog

Public Officials and Cannabis: The Talkers and the Do-ers

When it comes to ending federal prohibition, some public officials are do-ers, and other are talkers. Here in Oregon, we are lucky enough to have Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who is a relentless advocate for ending prohibition. Blumenauer helped found the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, and appended his name to the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment (RBA), which prohibits the

canna law blog

California Cannabis: What’s in YOUR Distributor Services Contract?

Even though the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MAUCRSA“) stripped distributors of massive amounts of power, they are still relevant and 100% necessary if cultivators and manufacturers want to get their products to retailers. Why? There are three primary reasons: Distributors are the only license type that can transport marijuana products and they’re also the

canna law blog

Hiring California Cannabis Employees: Be Careful What You Ask

Beginning January 1, California employers with five or more employees will be prohibited from asking about an applicant’s conviction history and cannot consider an applicant’s criminal history until after a conditional job offer has been made. A conditional job offer is an offer made contingent on the completion of a background check. Only after the

canna law blog

California Cannabis: MAUCRSA and Mega Farms

When it comes to cultivation, one of the biggest developments in California’s new emergency cannabis regulations has to do with something conspicuously missing from the rules: a cap on the amount of land a licensee can cultivate for medicinal or adult-use cannabis. While 2016’s Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Prop. 64) and subsequent SB 94 made

canna law blog

Top Five Red Flags for California Cannabis M & A

Ah, California. The land of tech innovation, wine country, and endless coastline. Also the land of shysters, hucksters, and snake oil salesmen, far too many of whom have migrated to the booming cannabis industry to ply their trade. With the lead up to full implementation of the Medicinal and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety

No Bankruptcy, No Problem? Receivership and Cannabis.

Back in 2014, we wrote that bankruptcy is not an option for marijuana businesses. That issue has been litigated here and there since then, but as of today, cannabis businesses are no better off than before. The hard reality is this: all bankruptcy cases are handled in federal courts under rules outlined in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Those courts have held

canna law blog

California Cannabis Processors: You Asked, We Continue To Answer!

Three of our California cannabis lawyers recently did a webinar on the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MAUCRSA”) and how it repealed the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MCRSA”) while consolidating some of MCRSA’s provisions with the licensing provisions of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (“AUMA”). If you missed the