canna law blog

The California Bureau of Cannabis Control’s Final Regulations Immigration Impact on Foreign “Owners”

On January 16, 2019, each of the three California cannabis agencies dropped a final set of regulations. In many senses, the Bureau of Cannabis Control’s (“BCC”) regulations were the most comprehensive and expansive (we summarized some of the highlights here, and summarized the highlights of the California Department of Public Health’s final regulations here). In

canna law blog

Federal Court Dismisses RICO Suit Against Sonoma County Cannabis Cultivator

For a while, criminal conspiracy lawsuits against cannabis operations looked like a potentially promising strategy for cannabis prohibitionists to try and use litigation to reverse the trend of legalization. The idea is to use the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), a federal statute intended to combat organized crime–and which allows private rights of

canna law blog

California Cannabis Red Tape Alert: New BCC “Change of Ownership” Rules

Our California cannabis lawyers are seeing a major spike in mergers and acquisitions (M & A), and it’s time to discuss what’s on the horizon for changes of ownership for some California cannabis businesses. In every cannabis state, M & A is no breeze because the regulators almost always require pre-approval of the transaction or

canna law blog

在2019年浏览加州大麻租约

我们曾撰文介绍过业主在向加州商业大麻租户出租房屋时应避免的一些陷阱。最近,我们还讨论了该州即将出台的最终法规给房东带来的一些相关问题。此外,我们还探讨了州政府颁布这些法规后仍存在的一些最大的不确定性。现在我们

canna law blog

2019 Will Be a Banner Year for Cannabis Mergers and Acquisitions

We handle a lot of cannabis M & A in our Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland offices. Over the years, it’s become pretty clear that in robustly regulated cannabis states, the secondary market for buying and selling businesses really peaks (after initial legalization) as local and state governments finally begin to settle their

canna law blog

Breaking News: FDA Issues Statements on CBD and Industrial Hemp (and What it Means for California)

Yesterday, President Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill, paving the way for industrial hemp legalization. Within hours, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, issued a statement clarifying the FDA’s position on industrial hemp. The FDA’s position: Just because industrial hemp is legal doesn’t mean that you can put it in food

Anti-Competitive Alert? Marijuana Slotting Fee and Pay-to-Stay Contracts in California

Anti-Competitive Alert? Marijuana Slotting Fee and Pay-to-Stay Contracts in California

With the roll out of the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MAUCRSA“), our California cannabis attorneys see all kinds of agreements between and among licensees. From IP licensing to white labeling to distribution contracts, we’re beginning to see people emerge from the shadows and enter into written agreements with each other, which

canna law blog

California Cannabis Landlords: More Regulatory Snags to Avoid

We’ve previously written about some of the pitfalls for landlords to avoid when leasing to commercial cannabis tenants in California. We’ve also written about how the state’s recently proposed modifications to its final cannabis regulations could affect licensees and the industry writ large (see here and here). The comment period for those rule changes is

canna law blog

California Cannabis: The Race is On for Temporary State Licenses

Unless you’ve been completely out of the loop, you already know that many, many people are in a race to submit their California state temporary cannabis license applications before December 31 of this year, which represents the “drop dead” date for cannabis temporary licenses. Add to that the regulatory curve balls thrown by the California

canna law blog

California Cannabis: Cities and the End of Temporary Licenses

We recently wrote about an announcement by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (“CDFA”) that temporary license applications need to be submitted by December 1, 2018 in order to be reviewed on time for approval and issuance before December 31, 2018. To date, California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) followed suit, but the California Bureau