Qualified Opportunity Zones, which provide a tremendous benefit to investors and low income communities, are the hot new topic in the real estate investment world. The cannabis industry is buzzing about investment opportunities in these zones, but we remain skeptical about the ability of cannabis business activity to qualify for the benefits under this new…
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In December 2018, Congress passed the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (better known as the “Farm Bill”). Among other things, the passage of the bill removed industrial hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act, allowing legal production of the crop. Despite this landmark legislation, pitfalls still lay on the path ahead. The legality of many…
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Federal Court Dismisses RICO Suit Against Sonoma County Cannabis Cultivator
CaliforniaUncategorized January 28, 2019
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…
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Proposed California Legislation May Allow Hemp CBD in Foods
CaliforniaHempUncategorized January 28, 2019
On January 17, 2019, California Assembly Member Cecilia M. Aguiar-Curry kept her promise and introduced a piece of hemp legislation, AB 228. This bill is aimed at paving the way for adding industrial hemp derived cannabidiol (“Hemp CBD”) to foods, beverages, and cosmetics. The text of AB 228 is relatively short and would add the…
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ICYMI: The BCC Drops its Final Regulations
CaliforniaRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized January 25, 2019
On Wednesday, January 16, 2019, the California Bureau of Cannabis Control (“BCC”)—the agency that licenses distributors, retailers, testing labs, and event organizers—dropped its final regulations. Until then, BCC licensed commercial cannabis operators or applicants for BCC licenses had been in no man’s land, complying with emergency regulations while trying to divine what the final regulations…
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California Cannabis: Breaking Down the CDPH Permanent Regulations
CaliforniaMedical MarijuanaRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized January 22, 2019
The State of California finally adopted permanent cannabis regulations earlier this month. In a series of posts, we’re going to cover the highlights of each agency’s permanent rules so that you know what big changes to expect during 2019. This post will cover the main changes (in our opinion) regarding the California Department of Public…
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BREAKING NEWS: California Agencies Issue Final Cannabis Regulations. Finally.
CaliforniaMedical MarijuanaRecreational MarijuanaUncategorized January 17, 2019
Yesterday afternoon, on January 16, 2019, the California Office of Administrative Law (“OAL) finally approved the sets of final regulations under it had been reviewing after submissions from the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) which regulates cannabis manufacturers, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (“CDFA”) which regulates cultivators, and the Bureau of Cannabis Control (“BCC”)…
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The Even More Perplexing State of Hemp CBD in California
CaliforniaHempUncategorized January 14, 2019
A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about the precarious state of industrial-hemp derived CBD in California. Since then, as everyone knows, President Trump signed the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (or “Farm Bill”). A lot of people think that in the wake of the Farm Bill, hemp-derived CBD (“Hemp CBD”) is now…
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The Business of Marijuana in Northern California: Join Us January 17 and 18 in San Francisco!
CaliforniaUncategorized January 8, 2019
On Thursday and Friday of next week, January 17 & 18, our own Daniel Dersham and Julie Hamill will present at a two-day continuing legal education (CLE) event in San Francisco called The Business of Marijuana in Northern California, to discuss cannabis real estate and land use issues in California. The roster of speakers lined…
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We’ve previously written about some of the pitfalls for landlords to avoid when leasing to commercial cannabis tenants in California. We’ve also recently discussed some relevant issues for landlords created by the state’s near-final regulations. And we’ve also looked at some of the biggest uncertainties remaining after the state issued those regulations. Now that we…
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