canna law blog

Cannabis Business Basics: Product Liability Insurance is a Nonnegotiable Priority

With Juul recently in the news and vaping bans going into effect around the country (see our recent coverage here, here, here and here), marijuana companies have been asking us questions about what to expect in the near term. In the midst of this uncertainty, we have been stressing to our clients the importance of insurance coverage

canna law blog

Five Common Problems in California Cannabis M&A Transactions

Now that we’re about two years into California cannabis licensing, our California cannabis attorneys are seeing a huge uptick in mergers and acquisitions in the cannabis space. It’s critical for potential M&A transactions to understand California cannabis laws and regulations and ensure that any M&A contracts are drafted with the regulations in mind. This is

canna law blog

Terrible, No Good California Cannabis Distribution Contracts

Since January 2018, distributors have played an interesting role in California cannabis. From a regulation perspective, dealing with a distributor is not optional. However, from the business decision vantage point, they’re not all that necessary. Still, some manufacturing and cultivation licensees opt to utilize distributors for sales and retail relationships with the distributor attempting to

canna law blog

Is Bankruptcy Protection on the Horizon for Cannabis Businesses?

As most of us know, bankruptcy is just not an option for the cannabis industry or those even affiliated with it. To date, courts have generally ruled that debtors who work in the cannabis industry or derive meaningful income from cannabis activity (directly or indirectly) cannot use bankruptcy. This is in response to the U.S.

canna law blog

Marijuana Business Financing: Tough Questions From Investors

As veteran marijuana business owners (and virtually every other type of industry owners) know, there may come a point in time in the business when you are sitting across the table from someone who is offering to put money into your business. They may be your prospective business partner. They may be your close friends

canna law blog

Cannabis Company Disasters: Learning from the Brutal Curaleaf Sequence

Today let’s talk about Curaleaf and the trifecta of very bad things that befell the company over a recent two-week span. Then, let’s see what we can learn from this brutal sequence. To recap, between July 22 and August 5, Curaleaf: 1) was hit with an FDA warning letter for “illegally selling” CBD products and

canna law blog

The Biggest Pitfalls of California Cannabis Leases in 2019

We’ve written many times about how commercial leases to cannabis tenants are their own beasts. Generic leases don’t ever the job done. And, in California, as bad as some landlords want to rely solely on AIR and CAR forms, we generally caution landlords to have a customized lease arrangement when dealing with a cannabis tenant.

canna law blog

Oregon’s New Cannabis Laws: The Definitive List

The 2019 Oregon legislative session formally concluded on June 30 and it was a doozy. With respect to cannabis, however, the session was significantly less eventful than any conference since 2014 (and that is mostly a good thing). If you’d like to track how we got here, we previewed the 2019 session in March and

canna law blog

Yes, Washington, You Really Need Cannabis Business Insurance

In a prior post I discussed some general insurance issues for cannabis business owners to consider. Today we’ll take a deep dive into Washington State insurance for cannabis businesses. As is the case with most emerging industries, the pace of marijuana business continues to outstrip the development of ancillary but crucial services (see California Approves

canna law blog

When it Comes to Cannabis Advertising, Be Careful With Social Media Influencers

It’s becoming more and more common for companies in all industries to use social media “influencers” to promote their goods and services online. Influencer advertising in the cannabis industry is a particularly risky idea because paid advertisers need to comply with all cannabis marketing and advertising rules. It goes without saying that social media influencers

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