KTLA Channel 5 News Story June 18, 2010: Lake Forest Medical Marijuana Dispensary Appealing Injunction Order
KTTV Channel 11 News Story June 4, 2010: Los Angeles Medical Marijuana Dispensary Challenges LA's Ordinance
Cannabis Law Group's Attorney Damian Nassiri Sues the City of Los Angeles To Block It's Ban on Medical Marijuana as Featured on PBS's So Cal Insider - Part 1 
Following a slew of vaping related lung disease cases, a Los Angeles City Council member calls for a year-long ban on all vaping sales.
The proposed ban has many in the industry rushing to cut the motion off before it becomes law. The major concern is that such a ban could mean the end for countless vaping companies who are solely in business to sell vape pens and cartridges. Continue reading
It was just last year that California’s lab testing industry was pushed near to its limits with state regulators’ recently-imposed testing thresholds – the first round of which went into effect last summer and the second nearly 10 months ago. 
The primary impact of all this, aside from additional expenses that nearly crippled some laboratories and retailers, was:
Cannabis legalization isn’t enough to protect someone from being arrested on marijuana criminal charges. Being one
of the trailblazing marijuana business owners in the state isn’t even necessarily enough. Just ask the woman who opened Ventura County’s first legal medical marijuana dispensary. She has spent the last year and a half facing down charges for perjury, possessing and transporting marijuana, and maintaining a place to sell the drug. These charges, however, were recently dropped, freeing her to focus on her business at last.
The woman is also president of a collective in Ojai, Calif. The property of the collective and her own home in Ventura were raided in November 2016, just before Proposition 64 passed on the ballot. She lost many personal possessions in addition to property of the collective. At the time, the collective was operating under the guidelines of Compassionate Use Act of 1996, which regulated use and sales of medical marijuana in the state, but investigators said she was in violation of those rules, according to a Ventura County Star article. Continue reading
There have been many reasons claimed that marijuana was highly dangerous and addictive by those who want to keep it illegal under federal law no matter how many states choose to legalize medical or recreational cannabis. There are as of the time of this article, 29 states that have legalized either medical marijuana or recreational use of marijuana as well as the District of Columbia.
One of the reasons they argue it is dangerous is because it has been labeled a so-called gateway drug. The many times disproven theory is that if someone uses marijuana, even though many do not see it as harmful, that a person is far more likely to try “harder” drugs such as cocaine and heroin. In other words, marijuana is a gateway to the dangers of all sorts of illicit drug use. If we take this argument another step, some with claim these marijuana users are not only addicted to marijuana at this point, and have moved no to cocaine and heroin, but they are also engaging in all sorts of street crime to fund their pricey habit. Continue reading
With wildfires tearing across California, many homes are being destroyed, as are other businesses including medical marijuana farms, and unlike other businesses, these farmers cannot have insurance policies on their grow operations because federal law prohibits insurance carriers from writing such policies.
According to a recent news article from the Cannabist, a company that runs a major online crowdsource, has just pulled the plug on a campaign hosted on their platform to raise money for the farmers who lost a great deal to the massive wildfires in Northern California. There were already many donations on the site that totaled over $13,000 before the campaign was terminated. Continue reading
The legalization of recreational marijuana in California has created a revolution within the cannabis business sector. As cannabis business owners prepare to adapt to the regulatory and financial overhaul of an entire industry, many are looking to the craft wine sector as a model of profitability in a highly regulated industry. Some ambitious entrepreneurs are even looking to combine the two in a potent combination of craft pairings. 
The Craft Strategy
The overhaul of the cannabis industry in California is an expensive proposition, and many owners of smaller cannabis businesses simply do not have the resources to adapt their business model to new regulations. They are addressing this problem in many different ways. Some small farm owners are banding together to form marijuana co-ops, which will help all participants adapt to the changing industry. Others are borrowing the business model of the craft wine industry: by focusing on a specialized product which commands a premium in the marketplace, their profit margins increase dramatically.
Leafly reports on the case study of one Sonoma County grower who has eschewed the mass market strategy with great success. Sam Edwards grows loose, airy buds that have little value on the flower market, but are “absolutely great for extracts”. Indeed, his vape cartridges command a premium of nearly double the price of other cartridges. Edwards himself worked in the wine industry, and it was there that he learned this business strategy. By developing a high-end specialty product with local character, niche wineries were able to compete with large, mass-production wine companies. Edwards does the same to compete with mass market cannabis growers. Continue reading
One of the issues that faces those who want to smoke pot in their apartments is that even though it will be legal to do so, it may be a violation of your lease. A recent news article from NBC 4 Los Angeles takes a closer look at this issue.
When Proposition 64 was drafted, it was done in such a way that would appease many of the opponents of legal use of recreational marijuana for adults. This is because while it was not as liberal as they would prefer, if was to pass, there would have to be some major concessions, so that is what happened. While the law did get passed at the ballot and will go into effect on January 1, 2018, there are still some issues that may cause hardship to those who wish to smoke marijuana in their homes. Continue reading
A recent article from THV 11 news involved some growing fears among those in Arkansas who receive Social Security benefits and wish to apply for medical marijuana cards. This is a novel issue there. Even though some states, like California, have had medical marijuana programs since 1996 or shortly thereafter, these residents are living in one of the latest states to issue medical marijuana cards.
The fear is that if they obtain a medical marijuana card, they will be on a list that the federal government can use to terminate their Social Security benefits. One patient interviewed for this story suffers from chronic pain. She has pain in her neck that radiates to her head, where it causes very severe migraines. She also has a painful medical condition known as peripheral neuropathy. This condition causes her arms and legs to constantly feel like they are burning. Continue reading
In 2015, a bill was first introduced that was designed to allow states to have legal medical marijuana or even recreational marijuana without any fear that the federal government would step in and enforce existing federal drug laws. This is important, because marijuana is still a Schedule One controlled substance on the United States Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (USCSA).
The previous attempt at the CARERS Act, which stands for Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect State, called for moving marijuana from the highest schedule and moving it down to a Schedule Two controlled substance. Continue reading
There is a lot of money to be made in the medical marijuana industry. Each year, more and more patients are turning to medical marijuana to treat various mental and physical ailments, and the types of medications on the market are getting more and more sophisticated to meet this new demand.
One area in which we are seeing growth, and see potential for a lot more growth, is in medical marijuana products for pets. As discussed in a recent news article from Salon, many people have pets that suffer from a lot of the same mental and physical conditions as people do. There are older pets with arthritis, pets with cancer (some on chemotherapy), and there are pets with anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Continue reading
Cannabis Law Group's Medical Marijuana Legal Blog