California Overturns Regulation Allowing for Cannabis Billboards

California just overturned a state ruling that allowed for cannabis billboard advertising along state and interstate highways. While cannabis billboards are still allowed, they are prohibited on any highway that crosses state...

2y

High Times

California On Track To Collect $1 Billion In Cannabis Taxes

California’s booming cannabis industry has been around much longer than many in the United States, and now, the state is on pace to collect as much as $1 billion in taxes from sales made in 2020, a record landmark for the...

3y

High Times

California Cannabis Workers Now Included In First Phase of COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

Those working in California’s medical cannabis industry are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, under new guidelines issued last week by the state’s department of public health.  Those workers are included under Phase...

3y

High Times

San Francisco Bans Tobacco in Apartments, Allows Cannabis

San Francisco has been stirring the pot with cannabis enthusiasts for a while now, as threats of a smoking ban in apartments loomed over consumers who worried they wouldn’t have a place to smoke. Now, the state has made...

3y

High Times

California Claims Cannabis Billboards Have Been Displayed Improperly

California just made a significant ruling that is bad for cannabis advertisers who favor the billboard format, but good for those who want to see more regulation. Apparently, officials have been allowing highway-facing billboards...

3y

High Times

CCPA Compliance: What Cannabis Businesses Need To Do Now

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives consumers who reside in California significantly more control over how companies use their personal information. As a result, all companies need to review their data, systems,...

3y

Cannabiz Media

L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey announces dismissal of 66,000 marijuana convictions

Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey on Thursday announced that she had secured the dismissal of 66,000 marijuana convictions in Los Angeles County, marking a major step in a growing national effort to undo the harsh effects of a decades-long...

3y

LA Times

California pot dispensaries are open during coronavirus crisis. Some want them closed

In designating California’s marijuana industry as essential under the state’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order, the administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom has argued that the health benefits of keeping pot shops open outweigh...

4y

LA Times

Labor unions flex their muscle in fight with California cannabis industry

California’s largest marijuana association is in a bind after powerful labor unions accused the organization of distributing an anti-union document and asked Democratic politicians to “refrain from engaging with” the...

4y

LA Times

Legal marijuana use still costs people jobs. A new California bill takes on the issue

California voters legalized pot in 2016. But for many seeking jobs in state government, cannabis use has become an obstacle to getting hired.Now, a spike in the number of job applicants disqualified by state agencies after...

4y

LA Times

California Cannabis Claims: Fraud

Welcome back to our litigation series on California cannabis claims. Fraud is one of those claims that clients believe will be easy to pursue, but it actually requires a lot of factual development and proof, even just to...

4y

Canna Law Blog

California Cannabis: DCR Issues City of Los Angeles Licensing Update

On Friday, January 31, the Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation (“DCR”) issued an updates bulletin to stakeholders via email that outlines some important highlights and reminders for licensees and would-be licensees...

4y

Canna Law Blog

Cracking Down on the Cannabis Black Market to Save Legal Sales

The illegal cannabis market continues to thrive in the United States despite the hope that legalization would reduce black market sales. In some states, like California, the problem is significantly bigger than others. In...

4y

Cannabiz Media

California Cannabis Claims: Breach of Fiduciary Duty

Welcome back to our litigation series on California cannabis claims. We’re continuing today with a cause of action we unfortunately commonly see in cannabis litigation: the breach of fiduciary duty. Introduction A fiduciary...

4y

Canna Law Blog

California Cannabis Claims: Breach of Contract

Happy 2020, everyone! Our litigation team would like to kick-start the year by starting a series on the most common causes of action that we see in and around the cannabis industry. We hope these overviews help our audience...

4y

Canna Law Blog

BREAKING: Newsom Proposes California Cannabis Regulatory Consolidation

On Friday, January 10, 2019, the California Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC) issued an email press release entitled, “Consolidation of California Cannabis Licensing Authorities” concerning a budget proposal released...

4y

Canna Law Blog

Receivership and Distressed Cannabis Assets in California

Succeeding in the cannabis industry is not easy, especially in California. Complex regulation, high taxes, expensive real estate, and competition with the black market are just a handful of factors that challenge cannabis...

4y

Canna Law Blog

California Cannabis Enforcement Begins

It’s no secret that California’s illicit cannabis market is alive and well; a recent audit showed that there are nearly 3,000 unlawful cannabis businesses in the Golden State. A few months ago, I wrote a post offering...

4y

Canna Law Blog

Californians can now verify legal cannabis shops using QR codes

California marijuana users can now turn to their smartphones to find out whether a dispensary is legit.The Bureau of Cannabis Control on Thursday announced a program encouraging licensed cannabis retailers to post QR codes...

4y

LA Times

L.A. officials say system for pot licenses was open early. Cannabis activists call foul

Hundreds of cannabis entrepreneurs rushed to turn in applications in September, eager to snap up the limited number of licenses that Los Angeles was offering up for new pot shops on a first-come, first-serve basis.The hotly...

4y

LA Times

Authorities shut down unlicensed cannabis dispensary in Palms

State regulators mounted dozens of raids against illegal marijuana retailers in Los Angeles this week, the largest crackdown to date against the city’s thriving black market, officials said Friday. The state has been under...

4y

LA Times

California Cannabis Litigation: We Argue the Kern County Appeal in February

  As we have written about previously, we represent a property owner and retailer in an appeal against Kern County pending in the Fifth Appellate District (County of Kern v. Alta Sierra Holistic Exchange Service, Case No....

4y

Canna Law Blog

He went from buffalo wings to cannabis and became the talk of L.A.’s marijuana industry

As a businessman, Karim Webb won acclaim for opening a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in a stretch of South Los Angeles that other investors had avoided, bringing new jobs to the area.He has been honored by Black Enterprise...

4y

LA Times

Is Hemp CBD Really Unlawful in California?

Dozens of times per month, I am asked by clients and potential clients whether hemp-derived cannabidiol (“Hemp CBD”) products are legal in California. With almost any other product, I can give an easy “yes” or “no”...

4y

Canna Law Blog

Statewide Delivery Rules Bypass Local Marijuana Dispensary and Retail Bans

To ensure patients have access to the medical marijuana they need without requiring that municipalities allow dispensaries, some states have decided to approve statewide cannabis deliveries, which includes deliveries to cities,...

4y

Cannabiz Media

California officials side with marijuana company in new fight over home deliveries

Escalating a legal battle with California cities and counties over where marijuana can be sold, state officials are intervening in a new court fight over home delivery of cannabis in communities that have banned or restricted...

4y

LA Times

How Will the USDA Hemp Rules Affect California?

In mid-October, California Governor Gavin Newsom approved a bill (SB-153) that dramatically changed California’s hemp cultivation laws. The bill was clearly intended to bring California closer into harmony with the 2014...

4y

Canna Law Blog

Why were Carpinteria school officials pictured smiling amid marijuana plants? Money

In this seaside town, readers of the local paper recently came upon a curious photo: the school district superintendent and four administrators standing and smiling in a field of marijuana plants.They were wearing caps with...

4y

LA Times

A New California Law Will Affect Marijuana and Hemp Businesses Across the Nation

We’ve been writing a lot lately about recent major changes in federal hemp laws that will likely affect every hemp company in the United States (see here, here, and here). While we’re on the topic of dramatic legal changes,...

4y

Canna Law Blog

California suspends nearly 400 marijuana businesses over training and other lapses

California has suspended 394 marijuana business permits in a move that critics say will temporarily reduce the number of legal cannabis shops in the state.The suspension affecting about 5% of California’s legal cannabis...

4y

LA Times

Cannabis Topicals and Cosmetics: Join Us November 20th in Marina Del Rey!

On November 20th, our own Alison Malsbury will lead a presentation on CBD & Cosmetics at the 2019 Emerging Issues Conference in Marina del Rey, California. Her presentation will focus on the contentious landscape of...

4y

Canna Law Blog

Almost 1 million illegal marijuana plants seized in California

Three years after Californians decided to legalize and license marijuana farms, state law enforcement raids this year seized nearly 1 million pot plants from illicit grows, a jump from last year highlighting that the black...

4y

LA Times

Los Angeles Cannabis Retail Licensing May Get Derailed

Getting a cannabis license in Los Angeles has been notoriously difficult—and may be about to get worse as news dropped last week that a Los Angeles City Council member is recommending that the most recent phase of licensing...

4y

Canna Law Blog