California marijuana business attorneys

March 27, 2018

Cash-Only System Tough on Marijuana Businesses When Paying Taxes

In the midst of tax season, the paradox of tax-paying marijuana business owners being treated like criminals takes center stage. The San Francisco Chronicle recently described the scene as marijuana retailers brought bags of cash to tax administration offices. Some retailers reported bringing in up to $80,000 at a time.

But what other choice did they have? California has opened the door for legal recreational sales with the implementation of Proposition 64 this year, which is bringing a new wave of money-making opportunities for cannabis entrepreneurs. And where there is money-making, there are also taxes. These businesses want to pay their taxes, but without the option of processing transactions and savings in a bank like a normal business, cannabis companies end up paying taxes with cash out of bags.

As our marijuana attorneys can explain, at the heart of this issue is Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. Section 812. According to the federal government, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I narcotic under this act. A Schedule I classification means that a drug “has high potential for abuse” and has no accepted medical use in the United States. And even under medical supervision, it would not be considered safe to consume. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to marijuana. For more than 20 years, cannabis has been offering relief to patients in California for everything from cancer to arthritis to anxiety thanks to the Compassionate use Act of 1996. Continue reading

February 20, 2018

UCSF Says Marijuana Businesses Can Learn from Mistakes of Tobacco

By Cannabis Law Group

While many politicians and other leaders continue to wring their hands, hemming and hawing ad nauseum over the best way to regulate the growing number of marijuana businesses, University of California San Francisco says the answer is right under our noses.

According to a study by the university published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, regulators need look no further than the tobacco industry for inspiration to create best practices for adult-use marijuana. By using what the tobacco industry has learned by trial and error over the years, the marijuana industry can avoid early mistakes and take a proactive approach.

Examples in the study include implementing clear labeling with conspicuous warning labels, avoiding marketing that appeals to minors, and restricting product potency. Continue reading

January 29, 2018

Northern California County Rolls Back Marijuana Legalization

By Cannabis Law Group

As of January 1, California rolled out Proposition 64, The Adult Use of Marijuana Act, making recreational marijuana legal in the state. However, the marijuana legalization attorneys new law did not automatically make cannabis legal everywhere in California. It is still up to local governments to regulate, restrict, and ban as they see fit or to open the floor to residential votes. Therefore, many Californians have been disappointed to discover their local laws are prohibitive to using, growing, or distributing marijuana.

Even more disappointing, though, is when the law changes in a region that initially legalized marijuana, especially for citizens who have already made significant investments in the cannabis industry.

This is the case in Calaveras County in Northern California, where the board of supervisors voted 3-2 to ban commercial marijuana. The board included four newly elected members who campaigned last year on promises of banning marijuana, according to an article from Associated Press. The decision will have broad-sweeping effects on some 200 cannabis farms that will now have only three months to shut down operations. Continue reading

January 17, 2018

Licensed Cannabis Business Drivers Arrested, Van Confiscated

By Cannabis Law Group

It is an extremely exciting time now in California for cannabis businesses. While medical marijuana has been legal in the state for nearly marijuana businesses two decades, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2018, is ushering in a new era with the legalization of recreational cannabis in California.

But our legal team knows it also can be a very scary and confusing time. Some officials are seeking to make the transition as easy as possible to encourage cannabis businesses to become public and legal. While others seem to be looking for reasons to crack down on businesses and exploit clashing laws.

Such is the case in northern California’s Mendocino County, where in late December two delivery workers were arrested, and their van and its contents, roughly a ton of marijuana, was confiscated. Continue reading

November 28, 2017

Expanding Cannabis Business Zones Means More City Regulations to Consider

By Cannabis Law Group

As cannabis business zones continue to be established and expand in the state of California, entrepreneurs have many opportunities to grow their marijuana businesses. But this also means they must keep up with new and ever evolving regulations and standards. Marijuana delivery business

Many cities especially are passing regulations in order to limit the influence of the state on how the city chooses to oversee marijuana delivery services, growers, collectives, and edible and concentrate producers. Delivery services in particular must navigate a continually growing list of rules, ranging from methods by which the businesses can make deliveries to where they are allowed to set up.

In Hesperia, California, for example, the city council approved an amendment that expands the area approved for establishing delivery services and affirms cannabis activity regulations, according to an article from The Daily Press. Continue reading