The California cannabis market is truly struggling all the way around. Cannabis businesses and those who work with them closely face mounting financial pressure. Because of the credit crunch in California cannabis, the state and various impacted distributors and brands are taking steps to help shore up the issues created by cannabis companies that can’t
In an era of Theranos, Fyre Fest, FTX and WeWork, cannabis scams, frauds, and scandals probably pale in comparison. However, cannabis scams (and their evolution) are still worth noting, spotting, and avoiding at all costs. I’ve written about cannabis scams in the past (see here), and it’s one of my favorite topics given the still-emerging
We’ve written regularly about the plight of cannabis businesses not being able to secure traditional lending (and other financial services) from major, federally regulated institutions. In this post, we dive deeper into a promising federally regulated equity offering as an alternative funding means: Rule 504 under Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Regulation D. Why aren’t
Cannabis and business immigration don’t mix. Or at least that’s the conservative guidance we often give clients that come to us with that question. That’s not because a particular investment may not be sound, rather because federal law creates inherent conflicts between immigration eligibility and participating in a cannabis venture. Kate Robertson at MJBizDaily reported
As we inch closer to a cannabis recession, businesses are desperately looking for new ways to stay afloat. A few years ago, our cannabis attorneys saw equity investments left and right. It seemed like everyone wanted to own a piece of a cannabis business. But as things grow more precarious for the industry as a
In November 2022, the OLCC adopted and amended a suite of cannabis rules that became effective January 1, 2023. You can download the changes here and read our previous coverage of many of these changes here, here, here, and here. Now that Oregon’s new cannabis rules are effective, let’s take a look at some of
I previously wrote about how the cannabis industry should prepare itself for tough financial times. Capital is increasingly hard to come by unless you find yourself in a newly launched state like New York, perhaps. But once a state cannabis program is relatively mature, it’s only a matter of time before it’s a race to
As we’ve written about over the past several years, there have been consistent rallying cries for common-sense banking reform for the cannabis industry. The SAFE Banking Act, which would allow federally regulated financial institutions to work with state-legal cannabis businesses, has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives a whopping seven times. However, the
It looks like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has its eye on the cannabis industry and specifically stock promotion schemes. Last month, the Commission announced charges against two cannabis companies and associated individuals for their involvement in “a fraudulent scheme to promote the securities.” The companies at issue are Elegance Brands Inc., Emerald Health
This post continues our discussion of rule changes proposed by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC). (Other posts here and here, and please stay tuned for an omnibus post by Vince Sliwoski). Today the topic is a proposed revision to the rules governing changes in business structure. In particular, a proposed conditional approval rule
