California Cannabis: Preparing for Phase 3 Licensing in L.A. on September 3rd
CaliforniaMedical MarijuanaRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized August 20, 2019
The final countdown is on for Round 1, Phase 3 retail licensing in Los Angeles. On September 3rd at 10 a.m., the L.A. Department of Cannabis Regulation (DCR) will open the flood gates to would-be Round 1 applicants. And in its own announcements on the subject, the DCR states that it has verified over 800…
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California’s legislature introduced a potentially game-changing hemp-derived cannabidiol (“Hemp CBD”) bill in January 2019: Assembly Bill 228 (“AB-228”). For those of you who aren’t familiar with AB-228, see my posts here, here, here, and here. AB-228 would change California’s anti-Hemp CBD policies, and the highlights of some of the more significant changes from the recent version are: Licensed cannabis companies…
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The Biggest Pitfalls of California Cannabis Leases in 2019
CaliforniaMedical MarijuanaRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized August 13, 2019
We’ve written many times about how commercial leases to cannabis tenants are their own beasts. Generic leases don’t ever the job done. And, in California, as bad as some landlords want to rely solely on AIR and CAR forms, we generally caution landlords to have a customized lease arrangement when dealing with a cannabis tenant….
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Winning Before Fighting: Top 12 Alternative Dispute Resolution Strategies for Cannabis Companies (Webinar)
CaliforniaOregonUncategorized August 10, 2019
Many people think owning and operating a cannabis business is a dream job. The reality is that any dream job can quickly become a nightmare when your business gets pulled into a dispute. Failing to resolve disputes early can be shockingly expensive. Discovery — of documents and by depositions — is usually costly, and risky…
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Commercial cannabis licensing in California kicked off on January 1, 2018. A few days later, former U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, rescinded all former Department of Justice guidance on federal enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act in states with legal cannabis. The industry reaction in California that day was all over the place, and chaos…
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A week or so ago, I wrote a post outlining the current state of California hemp laws, and noted that there are two pending pieces of legislation that could change the state of hemp law in California: AB-228 which deals more with adding hemp-derived cannabidiol to foods and other consumer products, and SB-153, which would…
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Welcome to the Jungle: Changes in Ownership, Financial Interests, and Entities for California Cannabis Businesses
CaliforniaMedical MarijuanaRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized July 19, 2019
We’ve written a lot about cannabis M & A, entity selection choices, and financing on the Canna Law Blog and how these transaction and changes do not amount run of the mill transactions because of the invasive regulatory overlay in almost all states. California though stands alone when it comes to the regulatory gauntlet on…
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The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (“2018 Farm Bill”) legalized hemp by removing the crop and its derivatives from the definition of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) and by providing a detailed framework for the cultivation of hemp. The 2018 Farm Bill gives the US Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) regulatory authority over hemp…
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California is on the brink of legalizing hemp-derived cannabidiol (“Hemp CBD”) in many products—well, sort of. The law at issue is Assembly Bill 228 (“AB-228”), and I’ve been writing about it since it was introduced in January 2019 (for my posts on it, see here, here, and here). As of today, it’s made its way…
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ICYMI: California Cannabis Provisional Licenses Are Given New Life
CaliforniaUncategorized July 5, 2019
On July 1, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 97 and SB 97, which combined, extend the life and power of provisional cannabis licenses, giving much needed relief to licensees sitting on temporary licenses that were about to expire and/or that are awaiting their provisional licenses to issue in the face of massive red tape…
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