Like tech startups, or any new business, cannabis startups need investment. Though most tech startups are organized as corporations, with the ultimate goal of acquisition or IPO, cannabis businesses are more often (but not always) organized as LLCs. But cannabis startups too often fail to realize that if they are seeking investors, they are probably
Last week, I spoke at a legal education event on advising corporate and officers and directors. It wasn’t a cannabis-specific event, so there were speakers with various backgrounds. One interesting commonality that a few of the speakers discussed was the value of corporate mission statements, both in the for-profit and non-profit worlds. I don’t know
In a multitude of marijuana-regulated states, certain individuals and companies cannot own or even finance a marijuana business due to state regulations on residency and criminal and financial background checks. This means the cannabis business lawyers at my firm often get clients interested in getting involved with an ancillary cannabis business so as to avoid these heavy regulations. Whether
I spent last weekend in Barcelona attending Spannabis. Our Barcelona lawyers constantly get inquiries from serious international businesspeople wanting to start a cannabis social club or some other sort of cannabis business in Spain. And with more than 200 medical marijuana social clubs in Barcelona alone, I wanted to go there to meet with key industry players to
Our marijuana business attorneys handle lots of purchase transactions for marijuana businesses. These deals often involve two sides rushing to complete a transaction handled by a business broker who doesn’t know or care about the applicable marijuana laws. The worst case scenario is when a company asks us to review a purchase agreement drafted by the
My law firm represents a large number of cannabis operators in Oregon, Washington and California. Some of these operators own the land they trade on; others simply lease. Whenever we are lucky enough to meet the client before the onset of cannabis activity, our first question is often whether the target property is mortgaged, or
Importing cannabis into the United States is illegal since cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance. But it’s not necessarily illegal to import smoking accessories into the United States, such as (pipes, grinders, rolling papers, etc.) so long as you’re not violating federal paraphernalia laws. Even though marijuana legalization is sweeping the U.S. and people are
Last week, I spoke on an Oregon Business Magazine panel regarding the state of the Oregon cannabis industry. The event drew a diverse group of industry entrepreneurs, investors, consultants and observers, despite its 7:30 a.m. start. The panel also covered an array of topics, from state and federal regulation, to product branding and marketing, to
As cannabis business attorneys, we tend to see and hear more than our share of kooky and downright bad business pitches. Bad business ideas are one thing, but total scams and rip-offs are another. Unfortunately, like any new and high-growth industry with complicated and constantly changing rules and regulations, the marijuana industry is chock-full of
Last month, I had the honor of speaking at the International Trademark Association’s Annual Meeting about the unique trademark issues faced by the cannabis industry. We’ve written extensively on the subject (see below for some of the highlights), but it’s about time for a basic refresher on trademark law and the trademark issues cannabis business
