SAN DIEGO-May 19, 2021-(BUSINESS WIRE)–Innovative Industrial Properties, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYSE: IIPR) announced today that its operating partnership, IIP Operating Partnership, LP (the “Operating Partnership”), priced a private offering of $300 million aggregate principal amount of 5.50% Senior Notes due 2026 (the “notes”). The notes mature on May 25, 2026. Interest on the notes is payable semiannually on May 15 and November 15 of each year, with the first payment on November 15, 2021. The offering is expected to close on May 25, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

The notes will be the Operating Partnership’s general unsecured and unsubordinated obligations, will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by the Company and the Operating Partnership’s subsidiaries, and will rank equally in right of payment with all of the Operating Partnership’s existing and future senior unsecured indebtedness, including its 3.75% Exchangeable Senior Notes due 2024. The Operating Partnership may redeem some or all of the notes at its option at any time and from time to time at the applicable redemption price. Upon a change of control triggering event, the Operating Partnership will be required to make an offer to purchase each holder’s notes at a purchase price equal to 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the date of purchase.

The Operating Partnership intends to use the net proceeds from this private offering to invest in specialized industrial real estate assets that support the regulated cannabis industry that are consistent with its investment strategy, and for general corporate purposes.

This press release is neither an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of an offer to buy, any of these securities and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale is unlawful. Any offer of these securities will be made only by means of a private offering memorandum.

The notes are being offered and will be sold only to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), and to non-U.S. persons in transactions outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S under the Act. The notes will not be registered under the Act or any state securities laws, and unless so registered, may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Act and applicable state laws. The Operating Partnership does not intend to apply to list the notes on any securities exchange or automated dealer quotation system.

This press release contains statements that are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding the closing of the offering and the use of proceeds from the offering, are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, words such as we “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe” or “should” or the negative thereof or similar terminology are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. Investors should not place undue reliance upon forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.

About Ryan Allway

Mr. Allway has over a decade of experience in the financial markets as both a private investor and financial journalist. He has been actively involved in the cannabis industry since its inception, covering public and private companies.

Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals of San Diego has begun using a marijuana-derived therapy to experimentally treat small numbers of people who suffer from multiple sclerosis and scleroderma, a pair of autoimmune diseases.

The small, phase 1 safety trial involves CBD, a compound found in marijuana. CBD has caught the attention of researchers because it does not get people high, and it has anti-inflammatory properties.

The trial is meant to determine whether the therapy is safe, what dose should be used, and if there are any side effects or related problems.

Emerald Health says it also is developing another non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana — CBG — for possible use in treating patients with Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

UC San Diego is preparing to use CBD in a clinical trial that’s meant to people who suffer from epilepsy.

Researchers are excited about the potential of such marijuana derivatives, but they’re proceeding cautiously.

“We still don’t really know what CBD does do and doesn’t do, or what the right dose is,” Dr. Igor Grant, who helps lead UC San Diego’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, recently told the Union-Tribune.

“There haven’t been enough studies. And we don’t really know how much CBD is in the products people buy in unregulated places.

“The advertisement could say that it has a certain level (of CBD) and it might not have any at all, and there could be other ingredients like THC (which makes people high), or other chemicals.”

© 2018 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Leaders of the San Diego marijuana industry say the city needs to accelerate efforts to shut down the city’s roughly 100 illegal delivery services, which have replaced illegal marijuana storefronts as the new black market for the drug.

The city’s 18 permitted dispensaries can legally deliver marijuana to customers, but there are dozens of other delivery services that operate quietly and illegally out of garages, apartments and single-family homes.

Operators of legal dispensaries consider them unfair competition, noting they haven’t paid fees for a city permit, they don’t pay taxes and their products aren’t subject to state testing for purity and quality.

San Diego police have successfully shut down 11 illegal delivery services during the past year, making 34 arrests and confiscating 230 pounds of marijuana and $60,000 in cash.

Industry leaders applaud those efforts, but say that it would take 10 years at that pace to eliminate all of the illegal delivery services. They are lobbying city officials to consider stepping up their campaign against illegal deliveries.

“It lacks resources – it lacks laws that can be used to more effectively and quickly knock these down,” Phil Rath, spokesman for a coalition of the city’s 18 legal dispensaries, told the City Council’s public safety committee this week. “It seems clear there is an opportunity for improvement.”

Lt. Mark Novak, who heads the Police Department’s narcotics unit, told committee members he is optimistic the city’s campaign will soon gain significant momentum.

Novak said that city efforts to shut down illegal storefronts had mixed results until a crackdown in 2016 turned the tide. He said the city didn’t need to shut them all down because greater attention scared many into closing voluntarily.

“We were closing many down, but at the same time they realized if they were going to operate in the city of San Diego they were going to be closed down, and they closed down themselves,” he said. “It was kind of like a domino effect.”

Novak, however, said delivery services appear to be much harder to shut down than storefronts because they aren’t stationary.

“Simply put, delivery services take more time to track and locate because they are mobile, they use multiple vehicles and multiple storage locations,” he said.

Novak said each investigation into an illegal delivery service begins with police getting a complaint, police observing a delivery or storage location or police finding an illegal service on weedmaps.com or in a local newspaper.

Police then must verify the business is an illegal delivery service and identify who owns and operates it. When that process is complete, arrests can be made and search warrants can be issued.

Rath, the industry spokesman, said he empathizes with the police.

“I think these folks do a commendable job every day with a very hard challenge,” he said.

But Rath noted that San Diego’s annual budget approved this summer doesn’t devote any revenue from the city’s new 5 percent tax on cannabis sales to stepped-up enforcement.

Novak told committee members he doesn’t think lack of resources is the problem, expressing confidence that all he needs is more time.

Novak said one of six investigation teams in the department’s Vice Division is devoted entirely to marijuana enforcement.

Some opponents of marijuana legalization say they doubt the city will ever be able to shut down all of the illegal delivery services. They note that many of those operations are run by people who previously operated illegal marijuana dispensaries, so they don’t need to advertise on the web or anywhere else because they have thousands of existing clients who previously were regulars at their storefronts.

Some local residents lobbied the committee to consider allowing more businesses to deliverymarijuana in San Diego than just the 18 permitted dispensaries. There aren’t enough local delivery services to meet demand, they said, noting that some of the 18 permitted dispensaries have not yet opened and that not all of the dispensaries that have opened offer deliveries.

Rath said some permitted dispensaries are exploring partnerships with delivery services to help meet local demand. He also said his organization, the United Medical Marijuana Coalition, is open to changes in local marijuana laws regarding deliveries.

© 2018 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Felony charges are expected to be dropped against an attorney representing marijuana businesses in a case that stood out because of the aggressive tactics employed by the San Diego district attorney.

In an agreement signed Monday, the district attorney’s office has agreed to let attorney Jessica McElfresh plead guilty to an infraction for allowing a client to conduct an unpermitted marijuana manufacturing and distribution operation in 2015.

McElfresh had been accused of helping a client hide evidence of marijuana manufacturing. She denied the allegations.

Her case highlighted the risks of lawyers who wade into the legal gray zone of the burgeoning marijuana business where the drug is permitted at the state level but illegal under federal law.

According to the agreement, McElfresh promises to plead guilty in 12 months to violating San Diego’s municipal code, an infraction, which carries no jail time.

McElfresh’s lawyer, Eugene G. Iredale, applauded the decision by the new district attorney, calling it fair. McElfresh was charged under the previous district attorney.

“Jessica is a good and idealistic person. The law regarding marijuana is rapidly changing not only in California but throughout the nation,” he said. “Because of changing legal standards, it becomes very difficult for lawyers to advise their clients with absolute certainty as to what the law will be even the next day.”

The district attorney’s office said in a statement that the agreement “properly balances the interests of justice and provides accountability and fairness.”

The felony charge will stand if McElfresh does not meet all the terms of the agreement, including completing a state ethics exam and completing 80 hours of service work with an organization not affiliated with marijuana.

She also must not break any laws during that time.

A Riverside County couple who leased a San Ysidro storefront to an illegal marijuana dispensary was ordered to pay $388,000 in civil penalties to the city of San Diego this week, city officials said.

Quirino and Bertha Gutierrez, who live in Menifee, were ordered to pay the equivalent of $1,000 a day for each of the 388 days the pot shop operated.

The couple own property on West San Ysidro Boulevard in a zone where marijuana dispenaries may operate but they never obtained a permit for the business, Chief Deputy City Attorney Mike Giorgino said in a statement.

A different marijuana dispensary operating at the property was closed in late November 2015.

In August 2016, the court entered a default judgment against the couple, imposing $12,399 in penalties and costs and barring them from leasing their property to any marijuana-related business without proper permits.

Giorgino said the city learned in March 2016 that another business was operating at the location and advertising marijuana products on the internet. The city filed a lawsuit in May.

A judge issued a temporary restraining order in September and a preliminary injunction in October.

The dispensary, known as the Luxury Care Healing Center, continued to operate — in violation of the court’s orders — and was raided in February 2017. Police seized about 10 pounds of marijuana, $3,484 in cash, edible marijuana products and concentrated products.

A default judgment of $425,000 was set aside after the couple’s former attorney admitted fault in failing to answer the complaint.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Randa Trapp granted the city’s motion for summary judgment in early June and signed the final judgment Tuesday. The judgment requires the couple to pay $388,000 in civil penalties and prohibits them from operating or maintaining a marijuana-related business on the property without a conditional use permit.

The dispensary’s owner, Ziad Putrus, also was ordered to pay $100,000 in civil penalties.

“Landlords of illegal dispensaries are no less culpable than their tenants, and we prosecute them with equal vigor,” City Attorney Mara Elliott said in a release. “If you are leasing your property to an unpermitted pot shop, we will hold you accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

© 2018 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit The San Diego Union-Tribune at www.sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.