Last week, California’s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) released illegal market enforcement data for quarter 1 of 2024. It’s become a new tradition of mine to compare this quarterly data and see whether the state is actually doing anything to fight the illegal market (for example, see my posts for Q4 2023, Q3 2023, and Q2 2023). What does California’s Q1 2024 data show? Below is a side-by-side comparison of the enforcement data published by the DCC from Q1 2024 as compared to Q4 2023: Q1 2024 Q4 2023 Search warrants served 18 24 Pounds of Cannabis Seized 31,866 13,393.65 Retail ..read more

Register Here On Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at 12:00 pacific time, Harris Sliwoski managing partner Vince Sliwoski (Portland), Harris Sliwoski partner Griffen Thorne (Los Angeles), and Andy Shelley of CannXperts will present a free webinar entitled “How to Buy or Sell a Cannabis Business.” Drawing on their extensive experience from representing businesses and entrepreneurs through numerous M&A transactions, including crucial state license transfers throughout the United States, our panelists will share insights and practical wisdom from their firsthand experiences in the legal cannabis indu ..read more

Cannabis investments are difficult enough when the investor is a U.S.-based person or entity. But things can get immensely more complicated when foreign investment is on the table. Today I want to highlight some of the top considerations for foreign investors and U.S. cannabis companies alike. 1. Legality could cause serious headaches To this day, cannabis remains federally illegal. State legality has zero effect on federal law. Even the possible rescheduling to schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) will not make cannabis federally legal. Things are clearly a mess. In our cannabi ..read more

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 even been discreetly purchased by multi-state operators (MSOs) in some cases, or other entities that should not qualify as social equity applicants. Regulators are getting wise. One such example is Missouri, where ..read more

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 a concept known as “authority” and explain why I think it is so critical for the cannabis industry. What is the deal with authority in cannabis contracts? When an individual who is (a) an adult, (b) not under duress, and (c) of sound mind enters into a contract, there is ..read more

Though the cannabis industry is one of America’s most lucrative new industries — with estimates that it will reach approximately $58 billion in sales by 2028 — the markets in several recreational states are suffering severe financial harm. In states like Oregon, the problems have gotten so out of hand that businesses are even pulling out of the state. And these problems are far from over. California is probably the best example of such a problematic state, as I wrote last week. Last year, reports from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration showed that the California cannabis i ..read more

Washington state took a big step in making the cannabis industry a little greener when the legislature passed SB 5376 which will allow the sale of cannabis waste and cut down on landfill waste. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee, with the help of sisters McKenzie and Avery, on Monday, March 25, 2024. SB 5376 allows a licensed producer or processor to sell cannabis waste to the public to be used in gardening applications such as composting or as insecticides, in industrial materials such as “hempcrete,” or many other uses that seem to be growing along with the industry. The Need fo ..read more

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 ignores, problems abound. California has even seen a pattern of dispensaries and cultivation facilities across California being burglarized and robbed. Suffice it to say, the state’s industry has colossal problems, the magnitudes of ..read more

An injunction is a request to the court for immediate relief from harm or potential harm. Its purpose is to stop harmful activity, prevent future misconduct or maintain the status quo during the pending litigation. While courts are often hesitant to grant such relief, recent trends suggest a shift in attitude, especially within the cannabis sector. As any of our litigators will tell you, securing an injunction in California is no easy feat. But California courts may be willing to grant them if cannabis licenses are at stake, in addition to other circumstances such as actual or threatened intel ..read more

Register Here On Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at 12:00 pacific time, Harris Sliwoski managing partner Vince Sliwoski (Portland), Harris Sliwoski partner Griffen Thorne (Los Angeles), and Andy Shelley of CannXperts will present a free webinar entitled “How to Buy or Sell a Cannabis Business.” Drawing on their extensive experience from representing businesses and entrepreneurs through numerous M&A transactions, including crucial state license transfers throughout the United States, our panelists will share insights and practical wisdom from their firsthand experiences in the legal cannabis indu ..read more