As legal marijuana markets have matured in Washington, Oregon, California and elsewhere, so too have the kinds of legal disputes involving marijuana businesses. Increasingly common are legal disputes between owners of a marijuana business that involve allegations of financial malfeasance, breach of fiduciary duty, freeze-outs, fraud, and other claims common to business litigation outside of
The Canna Law Blog has been writing about the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) interim final rule (IFR) on hemp since its August publication in the Federal Register: Watch Out! The DEA Just Passed a BAD Interim Rule Impacting Hemp CBD and Other Cannabinoids The DEA Does Not Want You To Worry About Its New Hemp
It seems like a new trademark infringement case pops up every week in the cannabis space, and I often find myself using the supposedly infringing cannabis companies as examples of what NOT to do when choosing or managing a brand. But this time, it appears that the cannabis company in question, Green Thumb Industries Inc.,
When President Trump announced he was nominating Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court last week, the future of many key issues was called into question. We won’t mention or write about them here because this blog is dedicated to all things cannabis, but there is one issue
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,
On August 21, the Drug Enforcement Agency (the “DEA”) released an Interim Final Rule (the “Rule”), which, in part, suggests that in-process hemp extract shall be treated as a schedule I controlled substance during any point at which its THC concentration exceeds 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis. “Any point” includes even fleetingly during
We’ve been monitoring and reporting on the growing trend of investment and securities fraud litigation in the cannabis industry, and this week brings yet another case. In Murray v. Camp, et al., Murray is suing three Washington entities and their principals for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, fraud, and violation of the Securities Act of
A few weeks back, the Cannabis Law Institute invited me to discuss contract drafting for cannabis deals. A focal point for the panel was whether courts are willing to enforce cannabis contracts. The last time I had really looked at that issue was early 2019, when I wrote: Cannabis Dispute? Courts are Open. As the
Keeping up with the multitude of (shifting) state and municipal cannabis regulations is a daunting task for any multi-state cannabis operator. One well-known tool for doing so has been CannaRegs, which offers a web-based subscription service to aggregate and organize cannabis rules, regulations, and legislation. In January 2020, CannaRegs was acquired by Fyllo, “a digital
For some reason, many cannabis businesses believe that because they’re already violating the federal Controlled Substances Act, they’re free to violate other existing federal laws. This of course is not the case, and never has been. Even though cannabis businesses can’t get legitimate recognition or fair treatment from the Department of Justice or the Drug
