In my ten years of advising and guiding cannabis companies from a corporate, transactional, and M&A perspective, and especially since 2012 (when Washington and Colorado legalized), every cannabis market in which I’ve worked has experienced a period of extensive business failures, consolidations, and market stress. And it’s that time now for California cannabis (and that
At 5:30 p.m. yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom took a giant step forward in preventing the spread of COVID-19 by enacting a “Stay At Home” order (the “Order”) across the state, mandating that California state residents remain in their homes, except to fulfill “essential” needs. The Order is in place seemingly indefinitely as Newsom would
Happy MLK Day! For our international readers, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a federal U.S. holiday marking the birthday of its eponymous civil rights hero. Dr. King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. Dr. King was assassinated in
Las autoridades reguladoras del cannabis de California están pasando gradualmente a una fase de aplicación de la ley en virtud de la Ley de Regulación del Cannabis con Fines Medicinales y para el Consumo de Adultos («MAUCRSA»). Aparentemente, hasta la fecha, las medidas de control se han centrado en las ventas ilegales y/o en la fabricación de productos ilegales (como los cartuchos para vaporizadores). Sin embargo, es solo cuestión de tiempo que las medidas de control se vuelvan más sofisticadas en lo que respecta a la concesión de licencias, incluyendo las estatales
As a corporate and transactional attorney focused mostly on cannabis, I see my fair share of financing documents and transactions involving cannabis operators. It’s no secret many cannabis businesses can’t get bank accounts or loans or lines of credit from financial institutions because of the Bank Secrecy Act and federal anti-money laundering laws — despite
Last week, amid the impeachment turmoil, President Trump and Democratic leadership somehow agreed on a landmark international trade agreement. The package is generally referred to as USMCA (U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement), or sometimes as NAFTA 2.0. Although the White House has not yet released a final copy of USMCA, its contents are widely known. As expected, USCMA
Over the past few years, our international trade team has advised a rapidly expanding suite of clients on import/export issues related to cannabis. We regularly advise clients on manufacturing overseas, hemp import/export issues, and customs. Currently, we are also working on heady questions surrounding international treaties and cannabis. One thing no one has hired us for yet,
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
In a recent 13-part series, we reviewed the stance of each of the 2020 presidential candidates’ on marijuana, and we assigned each candidate a letter grade corresponding with our analysis. Our grading criteria is as follows: Current stance on marijuana: What have they recently said about marijuana legislation? When did they adopt this stance? We
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the U.S. is facing a vaping epidemic where consumers are potentially inhaling/ingesting very toxic chemicals in the form of vaporized nicotine liquid and THC oil. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevent (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and state and local governments are still trying
