California marijuana business lawyer

April 7, 2022

1st Precedential U.S. Appellate Opinion on Out-of-State Cannabis Operators Expected This Year

Residency requirements attached to state cannabis laws may not withstand challenges to constitutionality. The first precedential opinion on this issue is expected sometime in the next few months by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in Maine. Los Angeles cannabis lawyer

The case, Northeast Patients Group et al. v. Figueroa, involves a challenge to the law in Maine (existing in many other states) that contains an in-state residency requirement for license applicants and operators. California doesn’t have a residency requirement law, but operators here may be barred from expanding into other regions due to their state residency requirements. This ruling could impact that barrier.

Last year, the District Court of Maine struck down the state’s residency requirement, finding that it was a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Dormant Commerce Clause, a measure intended to block discrimination against interstate commerce. However, attorneys for the State of Maine appealed that decision, finding the federal law isn’t applicable to the cannabis industry, as trade remains technically unlawful under U.S. law.

Similar challenges have been brought before in other courts, but as our Los Angeles marijuana business lawyers can explain, this is the first to reach a federal appellate court. A ruling by the First Circuit could have a substantial impact for the cannabis industry throughout the country. Continue reading

January 20, 2022

California Marijuana Businesses To Be Bolstered By $100 Million in State Funds

By Cannabis Law Group

The state has issued $100 million in funding assistance to help bolster legal marijuana businesses in California, an effort aimed to speed up license permitting in areas where it’s stalled. Los Angeles marijuana business attorney

The Department of Cannabis Control, managed by state officials, designated the funds be sent to 17 cities and counties where there are a disparate number of provisional marijuana business licenses (as opposed to full year licenses). As our Los Angeles marijuana business lawyers can explain, those provision licenses were intended to help quickly prop up the adult-use market, but the entire category was set to expire Jan. 1, 2022. That deadline has since been extended, allowing more municipalities time to kick-start the permitting process, while also meeting stringent environmental requirements.

The $100 million in grant money is intended to further accelerate progress – in turn squeezing out black market operators. The thinking goes that the more competitive, state-legal operations there are in a district, the fewer opportunities there will be for underground pot purveyors.

Applications to receive money through the Local Jurisdiction Assistance Grant Program, opened four months ago. Municipalities that were awarded the additional funding were those that had significant license processing backlogs. Funding is also available to implement social equity programs.

Goals for funding were outlined as followed:

Hire or designate additional staff to help wade through the sizable workloads necessary to transition businesses into a well-regulated local market.
Create streamlined license processing with dedicated IT systems.
Complete thorough environmental assessments to ensure water is protected and energy is renewable.

October 21, 2021

California Cannabis Company Sues State Regulators Over High Taxes, Illicit Market

By Cannabis Law Group

A licensed California cannabis company owner has filed a civil lawsuit against the state’s Department of Cannabis Control alleging that outrageously high taxes on lawful distributors and lack of enforcement against illegal operations has made the industry untenable for those trying to do it by-the-book. cannabis business lawyer Los Angeles

As it stands, the state’s excise tax on cannabis is 15 percent. Municipalities can also set their own rates. Plaintiff, Catalyst Cannabis Company, alleges these tax rates are effectively smothering the legal cannabis industry in California. Operators of pot shops throughout the state are “treated as second class” members of the business community, while they burden an unfair share of taxes and receive little protection against the unfair competition of illegal operators.

In a press release, plaintiff told state media outlets the goal of the litigation was partly to glean information about what state regulators know regarding illegal distributors and partly to compel them to participate in reasonable cannabis industry tax reform that would allow legal operators to survive. As our Los Angeles marijuana business lawyers have been made aware, eking out a profit has become increasingly difficult for California pot shops because of high-taxes and the relentless (and growing) underground market. Legalization of marijuana for recreational use has been a positive in many respects, but it’s also reduced penalties for unlawful marijuana sales, allowing black market cannabis outfits to thrive. Continue reading

May 15, 2021

Could Cannabis End Up Back on the California Ballot?

By Cannabis Law Group

Cannabis could end up back on the California ballot if some marijuana advocates have their way. An increasingly vocal faction argues that in the five years since voters approved legalization of adult recreational use, access to legal supply for consumers has been limited, thanks to unchecked taxes and fractious local governments. A booming black market has overshadowed legal proprietors, who are struggling to make ends meet – all of which was not the voters’ vision when they passed Prop. 64, the advocates argue. Los Angeles cannabis business lawyer

The California Cannabis Reform Project and Weed for Warriors organizations are working together to hammer out a ballot initiative that would, among other things, deprive local governments of the power to approve or deny licenses for cannabis business operators. They allege local governments have failed to wield that power effectively, in turn causing more harm than good, giving illegal operators a leg-up while making it harder for many law-abiding consumers in massive swaths of the state to obtain safe, legal cannabis.

As noted by analysis in the New York Times, roughly 8 in 10 of the state’s local governments have outlawed the sale of marijuana within their borders, effectively creating marijuana retail deserts. Local governments’ loss of control is effectively evidenced by the huge – and growing – illicit marijuana market. Continue reading

February 26, 2021

Marijuana Business Lawyers on How Interstate Commerce Could Transform the Industry

By Cannabis Law Group

Although 36 states and Washington D.C. have some form of legalized marijuana (15 of those for recreational use), it’s still strictly illegal to cross state lines with these products. It all comes back to federal prohibition. Crossing state lines with marijuana will cause you to run afoul of federal law. Each state dictates the movement of marijuana in its own borders, but intrastate commerce is federal jurisdiction. California marijuana lawyer

More than likely though, this will change – not so much a matter of if, but when. For one thing, we’re looking at a brighter than ever possibility of federal legislation that would end prohibition and legalize the drug. Beyond that, however, there’s a clause in the U.S. Constitution that bars states from unfairly restricting commerce between states under something known as the dormant commerce clause. State laws that restrict marijuana commerce with other states are probably unconstitutional under this clause (though it hasn’t been tested). As of right now, though, states don’t have any significant incentive to change it because it’s bolstering the economy of their own citizens. There haven’t been any lawsuits to challenge it either (yet) probably because litigation is expensive, it’s unknown how the value of limited licensing in marijuana-legal states would be impacted and fiercer competition is still an unknown for these burgeoning industries.

How Marijuana Trade Between States Would Impact the Legal Industry

As longtime Los Angeles marijuana business lawyers, we’ve seen the industry ushered through many major changes. Interstate commerce would be another significant one for nearly every sector. High-quality boutique offerings could find a bigger market. Larger firms that commoditize cheaper products would be in high demand. We’d likely see an immediate demand in more efficient supply chain and logistics experts.

Retailers might not see an impact right away (unless they are close to a state border). Even if/when marijuana prohibition ends at the federal level, most retail is likely to stay local. It’s probable that federal lawmakers would want to impose limitations or an outright ban on shipping marijuana via mail. (The same is done for tobacco products.)

What is less clear is how the value of state-issued permits would become. Continue reading

April 25, 2020

Federal Aid for Cannabis COVID-19 Woes?

By Cannabis Law Group

California’s cannabis industry is considered essential, but it’s struggling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was already grappling with high taxes, soaring compliance costs and fierce competition from the black market. marijuana business lawyer

Now, as our L.A. cannabis business lawyers can explain, companies are slated to receive a number of state benefits, and perhaps even federal aid in order to ensure their survival.

Marijuana Business Daily reports the state is planning to offer a number of extensions, relief and deferrals that should allow many pot shops, manufacturers and growers to keep operations chugging along and also meeting payroll. Many are hoping that this could ultimately lead to substantial, longer-term regulation – especially where taxes are concerned. Continue reading

March 15, 2019

Legal Marijuana Toke Prompts Pentagon to Review Security Clearance of Tech Billionaire

By Cannabis Law Group

Using marijuana is legal in California, but apparently, if you’re up for top-level security clearance with the U.S. government, you may want to think twice. employment attorney

The Orange County Register reports The Pentagon is reviewing the federal security clearance of California tech billionaire Elon Musk following an on-air marijuana toke on a comedian’s podcast last fall. Musk reportedly refiled the SF-86 security form required of federal contractors and/or employees who seek security clearance. The form requires filers to answer truthfully whether they have used any illegal drugs at any point in the previous seven years. Musk reportedly had a higher-level secret clearance, thanks to his position spearheading a company (Space Exploration Technologies Corp. – SpaceX for short) that is permitted launch of military spy satellites.

The company’s day-to-day operations aren’t overseen by Musk, and the company won several national security space launch contracts in the wake of the podcast, but the Register reports it’s only with the refiling that Musk may have some issues.

Employers, Contractors Allowed to Set Ground Rules for Off-the-Clock Cannabis Use Continue reading

January 15, 2019

Marijuana Product Liability Lawsuits May Pick Up in 2019

By Cannabis Law Group

It’s not only pot smokers who line outside California’s cannabis dispensaries. Personal injury attorneys may be lurking nearby as well, watching for the opportunity to pounce on a possible product liability claim if an marijuana product makes someone sick or results in an injury. This is particularly true because many states allow punitive damages (up to three times one’s actual damages, intended to penalize the defendant for egregious wrongs rather than simply compensate the plaintiff) for injuries an intoxicated person causes to others. product;iability

Marijuana product liability attorneys in Los Angeles have concluded cannabis companies with perhaps the greatest vulnerability are those that produce edible products. Soda, gummies, truffles, cookies, truffles, brownies, potato chips, wines – the list is endless. But the waters of marijuana product liability lawsuits aren’t well-tested.

Such lawsuits will assert that marijuana products are defective, dangerous, mislabeled and/or the makers and distributors failed to issue adequate warnings about these risks. Continue reading