California marijuana business lawyers

February 28, 2020

Privacy a Priority for California Pot Consumers

Marijuana companies are actively working to update their websites, business practices and internal policies in preparation for new directives under the California Consumer Privacy Act. California cannabis compliance lawyers

As Los Angeles marijuana business attorneys can explain, many cannabis companies don’t even fall under the jurisdiction of the landmark act. Still, they are motivated not only by a desire to prove their desire to be in compliance just like any other company. Plus, it’s something most of their customers want.

Most California marijuana businesses are facing enough legal scrutiny as it is. Although the new law applies only to those corporations that generate at least $25 million a year in revenue and glean data on 50,000 or more households, devices or residents, some believe it’s better to make a good faith effort than to skate on the excuse that they aren’t technically beholden to it. It’s a potential marketing opportunity as well as a way to show regulators they are working to be responsible business partners. Continue reading

February 27, 2020

Bill Proposes Crackdown on California Illegal Marijuana Ads, Landlords

By Cannabis Law Group

The black market bud sales are the bane of legitimate marijuana businesses throughout California. There are billions of dollars to be gleaned in the shadows of licensed, regulated industry. However, it’s getting increasingly expensive to operate on the fringes, and officials say that is precisely the point. marijuana lawyers

Now, a new proposed law targets not just the illicit marijuana operations themselves, but the companies doing business with them. A new bill, if passed, would impose $30,000 in fines for every single offense of aiding and abetting unlawful commercial cannabis activity in California. That would include advertising for these ventures as well as providing leases to them. That would put significant pressure on landlords and advertising companies that try to make a profit off the virulent black market. Penalties would be paid to the state’s general fund.

As our Los Angeles marijuana business attorneys can explain, existing law imposes triple the amount of a state license fee for any individual or entity caught engaging in commercial cannabis business activity that is not licensed. That figure may be adjusted depending on the company’s annual revenue. Continue reading

February 26, 2020

California Cannabis Industry Driving Warehouse, Retail & Land Sales

By Cannabis Law Group

Green begets green – at least insofar as the California cannabis industry is concerned. cannabis warehouse leasing

The growing legal marijuana market is driving demand for warehousing, retail and land space across the country. One analysis of some 600 commercial brokers last fall by the National Association of Realtors revealed that in states where marijuana was legalized prior to 2016, the demand for these properties was markedly higher than in those states where cannabis use remained against the law.

As our Los Angeles cannabis business attorneys have noted that real estate investors have been especially active in areas where marijuana and CBD trade is thriving. Many more investment firms have been scouring opportunities in states where legalization seems likely in the near future. Continue reading

February 24, 2020

California’s Proposed Pot Industry Changes Met with Skepticism

By Cannabis Law Group

Los Angeles cannabis business attorney The Californian pot industry has largely reacted with positive skepticism after Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled his new budget proposal, which includes significant updates for the cannabis industry. In essence, Newsom’s proposal seeks to merge three existing agencies regulating the state’s cannabis to establish a single, centralized Department of Cannabis Control, and to simplify and streamline the taxation of cannabis.

California voted to legalize cannabis use in adults aged 21 and older, three years ago now. And in that time, the legal marijuana industry has grown rapidly. Cannabis market research firm, BDS Analytics, predicts legal cannabis sales will exceed $3.1 billion this year alone, and forecasts sales will continue to grow to an estimated $7.2 billion by 2024.

Growth of this kind has come to fruition despite California’s complex legal structure, which incorporates in excess of twenty different cannabis license types, four varying regulatory agencies, and exorbitant taxes that industry insiders say are driving customers to the illicit market for cheaper alternatives. Continue reading

February 22, 2020

Californian Cannabis Companies Find Finance in Real Estate Deals

By Cannabis Law Group

marijuana lawyers Many Californian cannabis companies are in need of quick cash to sustain or grow their businesses, and as funding in traditional realms is drying up, real estate deals are fast becoming solid options.

Selling cultivation land, storage or processing facilities, even retail storefronts, to marijuana-focused real estate investment trusts (REITs) is providing many business owners with cash upfront. Those cannabis companies then sign long-term leases with their new landlords. And by doing so, business owners become tenants withing the properties that once belonged to them.

In recent months, a slew of cannabis companies have taken advantage of sale-leaseback deals, including: Cresco Labs, Columbia Care, Green Thumb Industries, Acreage Holdings, and Grassroots Cannabis, to name a few. Together, sales from these multi-state companies brought in well over $200 million when selling properties then leasing those back from the new owners.
Continue reading

February 21, 2020

Is California About to Restrict Flavored Vaping?

By Cannabis Law Group

Calilfornia Cannabis Business Licensing Lawyers California has not been as quick to block flavored e-cigarette, tobacco or cannabis vape products as other states across the country. But that could all soon change.

Until now, companies like Juul Labs Inc., a San Francisco-based manufacturer of nicotine pods and vape pens, have managed to squash bills intended to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco throughout California. Jull Labs Inc. spent $600,000 last year alone, lobbying and supporting political campaigns aligned with their business goals. Continue reading

February 18, 2020

California Cannabis Delivery Companies Target Women and Roll Out White Glove Service

By Cannabis Law Group

employment attorney As marijuana use becomes more widely accepted, California market research breakouts show online cannabis purchase demographics now include higher participation among women. And companies are quickly adapting their strategies to woo them.

One such company, Eaze, a San Francisco-based online cannabis shopfront and delivery service, noted an uptick of 81 percent more women purchasing marijuana related products from the company, between 2018 and 2019.

With this shift, women now make up 40 percent of the company’s total customer base. Eaze also shared, that in 2018, women also accounted for 38 percent of its first-time deliveries, and that that figure grew to 43 percent in 2019. Continue reading

February 14, 2020

Sacramento Could Lead the Way in Cannabis Social Equity

By Cannabis Law Group

Cannabis business attorney Sacramento, California could lead the way in showing other cities throughout the state how to institute new, and broaden existing, marijuana social equity plans.

A number of Californian municipalities are yet to meet the ideal cannabis social equity standings, largely due to cannabis businesses tussling with numerous other issues, like licensing hurdles, tax hikes and the continued strength of the illegal market.

That said, of late, a pressing for increased social equity within the state’s capital has emerged. A finite focus has been set on providing both business guidance and financial support for minority communities, as well as those disadvantaged by the war on drugs.

Equity applicants take note — the state’s capital aims to grant as many as 10 of its next dispensary licenses to applicants who meet the equity criteria.

February 12, 2020

California Lawmakers Propose Cutting Pot Taxes to Give Regulated Industry a Boost

By Cannabis Law Group

marijuana business California lawmakers, in late January, breathed new life into a proposal that could cut the state’s taxes on marijuana for the short term, to help boost the struggling legal market.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has shown his support for the bill, as he now takes aim at updating California’s cannabis regulations.

Assembly Bill 1948, introduced by Assembly Members Rob Bonta, Ken Cooley, Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Tom Lackey, and co-authored by Assembly Member Mark Stone, seeks for three years to:

lower marijuana retail sales state tax from 15 percent to 11 percent; and
eliminate the cultivation tax altogether.

February 3, 2020

Vape Disease Cases in California All Linked to Underground Goods

By Cannabis Law Group

Los Angeles marijuana lawyer Los Angeles officials announced that cannabis vape cartridges seized from unlicensed storefronts late last month were tainted with potentially hazardous additives. These include an agent that is known to thicken substances, and is also blamed for causing the vaping lung illness sweeping the nation.

In December, California investigators also raided unregulated storefronts throughout Los Angeles and confiscated illegal vape products. According to state testing results, many of those products showed as far less potent than labeling suggested.

In some cases, the oil cartridges THC contents showed to be only a portion of that claimed and were diluted more than one-third by undisclosed but likely dangerous additives.

Los Angeles officials tested a sample comprising more than 10,000 randomly selected illegal vape pens confiscated in those raids. Results showed three in four vapes contained the thickening agent vitamin E acetate, which federal regulators blame for the majority of lung illnesses linked to the national vaping health crisis.