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
On October 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its interim final rules for the production of hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill. Our firm has provided a broad overview of the rules and written about the potential impact of the testing rules on the hemp industry. Today we address disqualifying criminal history for
If you follow state-by-state legal cannabis legalization, you’re aware that despite the federal illegality of cannabis, certain federal agencies police the cannabis industry like they do any other legal industry. For example, the NLRB has been known to go after cannabis companies engaged in hostile workplace conduct and the Department of Treasury contemplates banking services to
Getting a cannabis license in Los Angeles has been notoriously difficult—and may be about to get worse as news dropped last week that a Los Angeles City Council member is recommending that the most recent phase of licensing applications essentially be suspended. For some background on LA’s complicated licensing process, it has proceeded to date
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
Last week was a big one in terms of California’s social equity programs, with the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) announcing its award of equity grant funding to a number of local jurisdictions “to be used for commercial cannabis equity programs that focus on inclusion and support of persons or communities that were negatively or
The 2019 Oregon legislative session resulted in the adoption of several new laws concerning cannabis. You can read our definitive list here, our preview of the session here and a mid-session update here. One notable change was the passage of Senate Bill 218, which authorizes the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) to refuse to issue initial
For years now, I’ve seen and analyzed many different cannabis business relationships across the industry spectrum. Specifically, many proposed and draft agreements have come across my desk detailing the contractual relationships between a variety of parties in the cannabis industry for various purposes–from investors, ancillary services providers, and licensees to intellectual property holding companies, equipment
