The Arizona Department of Health Services (the “Department”), which is the cannabis regulatory authority in Arizona, released the draft regulations for the Social Equity Opportunity Program (“SEOP”). Click here to view the draft regulations. Under the SEOP, Arizona will issue another 26 licenses. As set forth in the Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”), the SEOP regulations
Arizonans knew zoning issues could cause headaches for dispensary owners. However, what was unanticipated are the new bans by some of the Arizona cities for recreational marijuana establishments. Shortly after the passage of Proposition 207, otherwise known as the Smart and Safe Arizona Act (the “Act”), several Arizona cities moved to ban recreational marijuana sales,
In our last post, as well as in our Mexico cannabis webinar last month (replay here), we examined the implications, business opportunities and requirements to take advantage of the Medical Regulations that recently entered into force in Mexico. Yes, medical cannabis is now fully legal in Mexico. However, that does not mean that you are able
Last Friday, January 15th, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the “USDA”) announced today’s publication of its hemp production final rule in the Federal Register, which will go into effect on March 22, 2021. This final rule builds on the interim final rule (the “IFR”) that was published on October 31, 2019. It includes revisions based
Last month, along with streamlined licensing, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) announced a significant (and welcome) change to its compliance function by instituting a new Verification of Compliance program (VOC) that will focus on education rather than penalties for certain types of marijuana rule violations. The VOC launched in early October and arose from
People have been complaining about Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) marijuana licensing bottlenecks for a long time. And rightfully so. New license applications are effectively suspended (and have been for over two years), while delays in approval requests for investment intake, ownership changes and business sales make these standard business activities extremely challenging in many
On September 24, 2020, the Bureau of Cannabis Control (“BCC”) issued a press release announcing its filing of a complaint seeking civil penalties from Vertical Bliss, Inc., also known as Kushy Punch (“Vertical Bliss”), as well as other related individuals for unlicensed commercial cannabis activity. For a bit of background, in November of last year,
Given that cannabis remains federally illegal in the United States (despite the fact that more than a majority of states have some form of cannabis legal reform), we get pretty excited when we see other countries undertake legalization experiments at the federal level. Canada was the first country to legalize commercial licensing for the cultivation,
The City of Los Angeles is no stranger to change and struggle around its local cannabis industry. Since the passage of Proposition M back in 2017, the City has made great strides but also suffered significant setbacks in building its licensed cannabis marketplace. Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, this trend continues for Los Angeles and
The Basics of a Cannabis Insurance Policy Insurance in the cannabis industry is big business, and business owners need to know what policies are available and what those policies cover. Why? Because in insurance policies, like all other business contracts (e.g. leases), the risk of a business venture is divided between the contracting parties. Your
