One of the best insurance policies a cannabis business can get is a written contract. Paying a lawyer a little bit up front can save hundreds of thousands when things go south. A lot of folks in the cannabis industry are still doing deals on a handshake basis (you can see some of our older
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
On September 14, 2023, Special Counsel David Weiss of the Department of Justice filed an indictment against Robert Hunter Biden in the District of Delaware. The indictment pleads three counts, which I analyze below. The Hunter Biden indictment centers on issues I’ve analyzed in many posts this year (see links at the bottom). Today I
New York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) requires anyone applying for a retail dispensary or on-site consumption license to submit a notice of their intention to apply to the municipality (or community board in New York City) at least 30 days prior to submitting the application. The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and Cannabis
Major banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, as well as landlords such as BentallGreenOak and Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., have found themselves indirectly involved with New York City’s unlicensed cannabis dispensaries, potentially exposing them to legal issues. This situation arises due to the proliferation of unlicensed retail shops in the city, with as many as
Huge news yesterday. Huge! The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially recommended that marijuana be rescheduled, from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This means that the country’s top health agency has finally conceded that cannabis has medical value, and isn’t a drug of abuse
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
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 Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is the most recent court to find that federal cannabis gun control legislation is unconstitutional. The case, United States v. Daniels, was published on August 9, 2023. The court joins a growing list of courts which have all found these restrictions unconstitutional. Federal law prohibits cannabis users from buying
Last week, Marijuana Moment reported on a new Arkansas law that would protect medical cannabis users’ gun rights. This law is the most recent in a series of attempts by states to get around federal gun control laws that prohibit cannabis users from owning or buying guns. It won’t work. I’ve written extensively on the
