The internet is a badlands of misinformation on cannabis law and policy. Less than stellar takes may be amplified on news sites, giving them a veneer of authority. Social media platforms, from X to LinkedIn (where all the pros are said to be) don’t have nonsense filters. This dynamic is not new! However, things reached
When someone buys a cannabis business, and not just that business’s assets, they essentially inherit all of its liabilities. And there are usually a lot. If the business is in the midst of a lawsuit, owes back taxes, is behind on rent, etc., the buyer will need to deal with those problems on its own–unless
California’s path to cannabis social equity: from arrests to advocacy Data from the California Department of Justice reveals that nearly half a million individuals were arrested on cannabis charges in the state between 2006 and 2015. Even after Governor Schwarzenegger authorized a statewide decriminalization program in 2010, thousands continued to face serious misdemeanor charges related
The need for social equity in cannabis programs As adult-use cannabis legalization sweeps across the country and America confronts the toll of previous, draconian cannabis policies, one of the best attempts to right abject wrongs is social equity programs within state cannabis industries. Unfortunately though, social equity programs are easily exploited and “loopholed.” Licenses have
Cannabis contracts are – in the simplest sense – binding agreements between two parties. But how you get to something being “binding” can be complicated. And in the cannabis industry, where things move a mile a second and people often overlook basic contract requirements, the results can be disastrous. Today I want to focus on
Despite continuously surpassing every other state with recreational cannabis in terms of total retail sales, California’s cannabis industry has faced continuous and far-reaching issues on multiple levels that have only spread even further. From declining sales that result in hundreds of millions less in total retail sales to a massive illicit market that the state
Washington House Bill 2320 Washington State has often led the way in progressive cannabis policies. However, the introduction of House Bill 2320 by the Washington State legislature could mark a pivotal shift in this trajectory. This bipartisan bill proposes to raise the minimum age to 25 years for purchasing and consuming products containing 35% or
Friend of the firm Andrew DeWeese published a recent LinkedIn post on Oregon’s outlying stance on THCA the other day, and the priorities of local industry advocates. I wanted to highlight that post and discuss today– it’s a compelling post and I have all sorts of thoughts about it. Here it is: Let’s break it
Cannabis M&A (short for mergers and acquisitions) in California is much more complicated and problematic than in other states. The biggest reason for this is that licenses are not transferrable, which all but eliminates the possibility of asset sales. In turn, this means that deals are much more complicated for both buyer and seller, and
For anyone who missed it last month, we have published a full recording and transcript of our webinar titled: “Attorney Insights on the Cannabis Industry 2024: Ask us Anything.” You can view the recording and transcript here. The webinar was well attended, and attorneys Vince Sliwoski, Griffen Thorne and Jesse Mondry answered a variety of
