Category: Legal

On Jan. 1, 2020, entities doing business in California will have to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), a first-in-the-nation law that grants numerous privacy rights to California residents. The CCPA will require thousands of businesses to undertake significant compliance efforts or risk substantial penalties. For cannabis businesses,…

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is all the rage these days. It’s being marketed to alleviate a wide variety of conditions, ranging from acne and anxiety to seizures and vertigo. Like medical marijuana, CBD is sold in several forms, including vapes, tinctures and edibles. Creative marketers, however, are incorporating CBD into myriad…

2018 was the year for cannabidiol: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted its first-ever approval of a CBD-containing drug, GW Pharmaceutical’s Epidiolex, which is used to treat certain epileptic seizures; shortly thereafter, the DEA took FDA-approved, CBD-containing drugs off Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act; then Congress…

The combination of two or more businesses, whether by merger or acquisition, can present owners and managers with a new range of opportunities and threats. Nowhere is this truer than in the cannabis industry, where rapid growth and a complex patchwork of regulations combine to create a challenging business environment.…

The legal cannabis industry continues to grow at a remarkable pace, both in the medicinal and the recreational sectors. From retailers to growers to the distribution chain, and everything in between, this means new and exciting opportunities. Companies have invested large amounts of money to develop new cannabis products, new…

As an attorney in California, I get a lot of questions from current and prospective cannabis professionals about how they can be sure they can stay on the right side of law while still doing everything they can to be successful. Here are answers to some of the most common…

After years of failed laws prohibiting a product that most adults use responsibly, rational voices prevail. The state is on the cusp of enacting a system that legalizes it, taxes it and regulates it. The main question on every policymaker’s mind is the same: How are we going to take…

It is no secret that New York and New Jersey — two of the nation’s most populous states — are racing to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2019, and experts predict that Illinois, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Minnesota are strong 2019 contenders as well. While prospective operators…

So, you’ve opened your cannabis business. You’ve thought of everything you can to make this business a success. You hired an accountant, got your insurance and retained an attorney? You’re all set to start raking in the big bucks … and then, you get sued. Everyone shudders at the thought…

There’s no question that passage of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (also known as the Farm Bill) in December 2018 was a tremendous victory for the commercialization of hemp and hemp products, including CBD. Among other things, the Farm Bill allows for broad cultivation of hemp, extends protections for…