canna law blog

Hiring California Cannabis Employees: Be Careful What You Ask

Beginning January 1, California employers with five or more employees will be prohibited from asking about an applicant’s conviction history and cannot consider an applicant’s criminal history until after a conditional job offer has been made. A conditional job offer is an offer made contingent on the completion of a background check. Only after the

canna law blog

Oregon Cannabis: State of the State

A little over a year ago, I put together a State of the State blog post on Oregon cannabis. At that time, the rules were rolling out in a business-friendly manner, many of our clients were proceeding toward licensure, and the market did not feel saturated. Today, the first two items remain true, but the

canna law blog

California Cannabis: MAUCRSA and Mega Farms

When it comes to cultivation, one of the biggest developments in California’s new emergency cannabis regulations has to do with something conspicuously missing from the rules: a cap on the amount of land a licensee can cultivate for medicinal or adult-use cannabis. While 2016’s Adult Use of Marijuana Act (Prop. 64) and subsequent SB 94 made

canna law blog

BREAKING: Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) Becomes First Co-Sponsor of Marijuana Justice Act

At 3:30pm PST today, Sen. Ron Wyden became the first US Senate Co-Sponsor of Sen. Cory Booker’s Marijuana Justice Act (“MJA”). We’ve discussed the content of the MJA before here and as we stated in the Portland Mercury: “Booker’s Marijuana Justice Act is remarkable in its scope. Not only would it remove marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) from Schedule I classification,

canna law blog

Much Ado About RICO and Cannabis, Part 3

Two previous posts (here and here) discussed the McCart v. Beddow case, in which an attorney who was fed up with cannabis grows next to her rural home filed RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) claims against dozens of defendants who allegedly participated in a criminal enterprise that damaged her by diminishing her property value, among other things.

canna law blog

Keeping the FDA Off Your Back: Don’t Make Health Claims for Cannabis Products

In Cannabis Edibles and the FDA, I discussed the basics of FDA regulation of cannabis edibles. On November 1, 2017, the FDA provided further specific examples of prohibited health claims made for cannabis products, in this case, cannabidiol (CBD): The FDA has grown increasingly concerned at the proliferation of products claiming to treat or cure serious

canna law blog

Cannabis IP Licensing 101

Given the recent influx of cannabis-IP licensing deals on which we have worked, I thought it important to discuss some of the issues potential licensees often face when negotiating with brand owners. These licensing deals are complicated and fraught with unique cannabis-related issues. Many companies come to us with such licensing deals expecting the biggest

canna law blog

Co-Packing Cannabis: The 101

Recently, we covered the basics of cannabis supply contracts here on this blog. Supply contracts are used when Party A is selling pot to Party B in a responsible way. Today’s post looks at another form of cannabis contract: the contract packager (“co-packer”) agreement. Co-packer agreements are used when Party A is working with Party B

canna law blog

Yet ANOTHER Cannabis Trademark Infringement Case: Tapatio Foods Files Suit

If this feels like déjà vu (all over again), it’s probably because earlier this month, I wrote about The Gorilla Glue Company’s lawsuit for trademark infringement against GG Stains LLC out of Nevada. In that case, Gorilla Glue, the manufacturer of a variety of adhesives sold under the “Gorilla” brand and distinctive logo, alleged trademark