California has no shortage of issues with its legalized cannabis marketplace. For a couple of years now, an open secret in California (and a cautionary tale for other states) is the concept of “burner licenses“. These are licenses issued to a company by the Department of Cannabis Control (“DCC”) that are used to conduct illegal,
A recent lawsuit filed in California federal court serves as a good reminder to all our readers that it’s so important to be mindful of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (the “ADA”). For the past several years, we’ve seen a steady flow of cases filed against cannabis companies for their alleged failures
If you’ve been to the red light district in Amsterdam, you may have seen the infamous coffee shops up and down the block. In the U.S., no state has anything remotely close to a cannabis bar or coffee shop where you go to not only purchase your cannabis on site but use it within the
It’s no secret that state cannabis markets across the nation are suffering badly. Because of I.R.C. 280E, lack of access to financial institutions, massive operational expenses, plunging prices, and just gluts of production, it’s not pretty out there. However, there’s a newish light at the end of the tunnel, at least for California and other
The year 2022 was a busy one for the California cannabis industry, with everything from tax reform to the beginning of enforcement. In this post, I’ll go back through some of the highlight’s for California’s cannabis industry last year. California hints at enforcement? Anyone who knows anything about California cannabis knows that the regulators simply
On December 1, 2022, the Los Angeles Controller released a report (PDF here) with a pretty lame pun as a name: “High Maintenance: Review of the City’s Cannabis Regulation Efforts.” While the report’s name is bland, it reveals the pretty dire state of Los Angeles’s cannabis regulation and licensing. Since opening up for licensing, LA
Cannabis litigation is growing as the industry matures. Recently, we’ve seen a suit related to false advertising, but we’re also seeing more traditional business litigation around partnership issues and contract breaches. In Los Angeles, the repeal of Prop. D and implementation of Measure M caused a lot of industry infighting, some of which led to
California law required the state Department of Cannabis Control to begin accepting large license applications on January 1, 2023. Earlier this year, DCC published proposed large licensing regulations (which I described here). As usually happens, on December 5, 2022, DCC dropped its second set of modifications to the proposed regulations. When DCC’s rules take effect,
This Thursday, December 8, 2022, the City of Los Angeles will open Phase 3, Round 2 of storefront retail licensing. The City will only accept applications from verified social equity applicants. It will select winners via a “triple-blind” lottery, awarding up to 100 retail licenses. But a guy in Michigan is trying to prevent the
It’s no secret that, among California’s many cannabis industry issues, local control continues to stymie the success of the Golden State’s industry. In this, California is not alone– most cannabis is all local. However, after these mid-term elections, there appears to be a bit of a California cannabis local control shift. That’s a good thing.
