The cannabis industry has always been international. Our first cannabis client was actually a Dutch company that hired us years before either Colorado or Washington had legalized. This client hired us to figure out what it would need to do as a foreign company investing in a U.S. cannabis business in a cannabis industry which
Several months ago, we wrote about different ways to reward employees with equity in marijuana businesses. Since then, various other publications have written similar pieces. But there are some lingering challenges associated with cannabis businesses as they attempt to lure and incentivize high-performing employees. Primarily, the complex regulatory systems maintained by the various cannabis-legal states
In most states with legal cannabis, an illegal cannabis market still flourishes. In many of those states, a large chunk of growing, processing, selling and buying still occurs outside the regulatory system. The illegal market for cannabis stretches across the nation and impacts both states with and without legal cannabis. Before legalization, all cannabis was
Last week, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) issued temporary draft rules on marijuana labeling, concentration and testing. The rules are here and here. Like the Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s (OLCC) draft rules issued the same day (for the recreational program), the OHA rules are being promulgated pursuant to House Bill 3400, last summer’s omnibus marijuana
This past Friday I chaired a “Medical and Recreational Marijuana in Southern California” seminar in Santa Monica. During the seminar, Governor Brown signed into law the three bills that comprise the California Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act (MMRSA). Needless to say, this was big news for all of us at the seminar. This is
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) finally issued its draft rules yesterday for Oregon’s recreational marijuana program. The rules weigh in at a hefty 70 pages and you can find them here. In an accompanying release, the OLCC cautioned that “draft rule language is subject to change and should NOT be used as basis for
The Suquamish Tribe and the State of Washington recently signed and entered into the first ever marijuana compact to allow a Native American Tribe to cultivate, process, and sell marijuana within a state’s highly regulated marijuana system. The Tribe’s own marijuana regulations have not been disclosed to the public. We previously blogged about how Washington was the first state to adopt
We write frequently about the importance of contracts to the state-legal cannabis industry. (For a crash course, check out Doing Business with Pot Businesses #2: Cannabis Business Contracts; Marijuana Contracts: Get them in Writing; and How to Draft an Effective Marijuana Contract.) We preach about the need to have solid contracts in place before you need them, covering
When it comes to marijuana licenses, some states are completely indifferent to residency, others give a slight competitive advantage to in-state license applicants, while others adopt a bright-line requirement that residents hold a controlling interest in the licensed entity. Are these restrictions on out-of-staters constitutional? State governments can require licensees to be a certain age,
Thinking about flying with cannabis on your next vacation? In most cases, you better find an alternative because you may face serious criminal penalties for boarding an airplane with cannabis. However, at a few airports, law enforcement allows passengers to fly with cannabis when certain very limited conditions have been met. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is the federal
