John Oliver, comedian and host of Last Week Tonight, has the right idea here. Marijuana laws do have a big impact, including on environmental regulations and international treaties. Marijuana laws also can empower or disempower drug cartels, increase or lessen the opioid addiction crisis, improve or worsen racial politics, create or reduce jobs, and increase or reduce access
I have been traveling for the past couple of weeks in Japan and Taiwan, so I thought I’d write a brief post about cannabis in East Asia. In addition to having a cannabis business practice, our firm’s other main focus is on international business — we have lawyers in Shanghai and in Barcelona — so
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
This week in ridiculous cannabis quotes that ignore science is brought to you by Dr. Joe Godfrey, Executive Director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP). Godfrey claims to serve as “Alabama’s moral compass” and the aim of his group is to “protect…children from the dangers associated with immoral behaviors and the temptations they face in
Should we laugh or cry? Comedian Stephen Colbert’s analogy hits the mark on the absurdity of Jeff Session’s cannabis views. Colbert was responding to the following Sessions comment about combatting violent crime: I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use. But too many lives are at stake
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
Yesterday, the Washington Post ran an illuminating and sad little story on government marijuana, which is pot grown under the oversight of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The government marijuana photographed and featured in the story is a sample distributed to a researcher for use in ongoing clinical studies for treatment of military
How refreshing: a politician who thinks sensibly about cannabis. Prime Minister Trudeau is correct: you don’t need to enjoy marijuana or want access to it to support its legalization. Legalization speaks for itself. It’s good for the economy as it creates jobs and generates tax revenue. It’s good for those that use cannabis medicinally and/or recreationally and
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
City of Los Angeles Voters Approve Measure M. The City of Los Angeles is making moves to change its current marijuana policies, which have so far made it impossible to start and operate a new cannabis business in the City. Yesterday, voters in the City were asked to decide between two ballot measures to repeal
