2024 is going to be a crazy year for cannabis businesses and investors. Among many other things, there will be a general election, possible rescheduling to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), an upcoming Farm Bill that could re-tool how hemp and hemp products are regulated, and maybe even some federal cannabis legislation.
One of the most persistent and common failures in the cannabis industry is using handshakes instead of written cannabis contracts. This is an issue I’ve written about for years (most recently here), and it doesn’t seem like there has been much of a willingness to change. A lot of companies would like to move into
Nondisclosure agreements (sometimes abbreviated, “NDAs”) are some of the most important agreements a company can sign. At the same time, they can be some of the simplest agreements to get in place. Today I want to do a deeper dive into nondisclosure agreements, what they contain, and why they are important. What is a nondisclosure
Cannabis real estate transactions can be notoriously complicated – much more so than your average real estate deal. On January 9, 2024, I’ll be speaking on a panel called “Navigating Real Estate Issues Impacting the Cannabis Industry” for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, where my co-panelists and I plan on touching on many of
One of the main reasons why I am such a vocal supporter of written cannabis contracts is allocation of risk and liabilities. Parties to a cannabis contract have a number of ways that they can allocate risks and liabilities that they just won’t have in a “handshake” deal. Today I’ll explore six of the top
I’ve been representing clients in California’s cannabis industry since 2018. Our firm has been representing businesses in the space for many years before that, in states with more mature licensing programs. One of the most common mistakes we see in new cannabis markets is businesses that rely too much on federal legalization happening. For example,
One of the best insurance policies a cannabis business can get is a written contract. Paying a lawyer a little bit up front can save hundreds of thousands when things go south. A lot of folks in the cannabis industry are still doing deals on a handshake basis (you can see some of our older
Cannabis businesses use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) constantly. This may be due to a series of factors, or some combination thereof: 1) the relative hardship of acquiring and protecting intellectual property over marijuana-related processes and products, today and historically; 2) a general modus operandi of “close to the vest” dealings in an industry that historically was
The internet is littered with writings on the relative merits of corporate forms and tax elections for cannabis businesses. Even the best of these articles are as dull as ditchwater, because the topic is tax. Most of the authors mention subchapter S taxation at some point, and the showier ones may even dredge up cannabis
Most cannabis companies are not wound up properly; some cannabis companies (and their owners) suffer repercussions for this; and all cannabis companies (and their owners, and investors!) are well served by an orderly windup. This blog post will cover some basics on the cannabis business windup process. First, though, I want to address a point
