Cannabis attorney

March 8, 2023

Cannabis Companies to Open Doors in Riverside, California

Recreational marijuana has been legal in California since 2016 – but Riverside is only just now on the cusp of allowing cannabis businesses for the first time ever. Riverside cannabis lawyer

As our Riverside cannabis lawyers can explain, city council voted 5-2 to green light 14 marijuana shop permits. The city has first passed a moratorium on cannabis companies in 2017 – with the exception of marijuana testing labs. This was despite the fact that Riverside voters supported Proposition 64 (which legalized recreational cannabis) by a 53 percent majority. A year later, the council agreed on an outright prohibition of commercial cannabis operations – except for labs.

Then two years ago, the city caught wind of a citizen-led effort to undercut the municipal ban on marijuana sales. Signatures to move the petition forward were never formally submitted, but the city did start weighing whether it should initiate its own permit program and regulatory framework. (Likely, they wanted to sidestep the reality that it was probably going be done whether they wanted it or not, and best to have some control over the final outcome.)

The city is actively studying how best to support permit seekers who have been disproportionately impacted by anti-cannabis legislation in the past. The initial outlay caps cannabis retailers at 14, but there’s no such limit for the number of labs, manufacturing companies, or distribution firms. Voters will need to consider whether they’re willing to accept taxation for the measure. A vote is expected in November 2024.

One councilmember against the initiative said he doesn’t believe marijuana sales in the city are an inevitability, worried over police and other public services burdening more duties, and lamented the fact that a gateway drug was going to be so easily accessible – particularly for young people. Just recently, the sheriff’s office arrested several older adult teens in Riverside for selling vape pens with concentrated cannabis to minors using a mobile delivery service.

But those who support legal cannabis say that a well-regulated market has proven to offset many of these concerns. Continue reading

July 27, 2021

New California Civil Service Rule Limits Urine Cannabis Tests for State Worker Discipline

By Cannabis Law Group

In a precedential decision, the California State Personnel Board ruled that simply testing positive for prior marijuana use isn’t enough to accurately reflect whether a worker was impaired at work and thus grounds for discipline. The impact of this new civil service rule is that the use of urine tests for cannabis will be significantly limited in state worker discipline cases. marijuana attorney Los Angeles

There are a few positions, such as policing, to which the rule does not apply. Some state employees are expressly barred from using drugs at all. But otherwise, given that cannabis is legal in California, it appears the state will largely be treating it like alcohol where workers are concerned.

The personnel board, which oversees the civil service rules applicable to state employees, pointed out that urine tests are only going to reveal whether a person has used marijuana in the past. It’s no indicator of whether the person is intoxicated on-the-job, which for most employees would be the only situation in which marijuana use would matter. Continue reading

February 28, 2019

Report: Most California Cities Bar Cannabis Cultivation, Sale (And How We Can Help)

By Cannabis Law Group

From the outside looking in, it might seem as if California is a haven of progress for pot proliferation. In reality, nearly two-thirds of California cities expressly bar marijuana businesses from establishing roots. Our Los Angeles marijuana business attorneys know this underscores the hurdles marijuana entrepreneurs face in attempting to break into the world’s biggest cannabis market. They are left with limited options for where such shops can be open. Even in the 161 of California’s 482 cities where it’s allowable, marijuana businesses are strictly regulated and heavily taxed. California marijuana

That’s why any individual or investor considering entry into the marijuana industry in Southern California should consult with a dedicated business attorney who has extensive experience specifically in marijuana law.

The Mercury News reported last year that just one in seven cities in California has entered the marijuana industry. That figure hasn’t changed much since then. Continue reading

June 2, 2017

Cuts Considered to the Office of Drug Control Policy

By Cannabis Law Group

The federal government needs to reform laws on cannabis so legal cannabis businesses in states that have de-criminalized marijuana can operate more efficiently and without the threat of federal prosecution. Los Angeles marijuana business lawyers know many cultivators and purveyors of marijuana face challenges on a range of issues, including tax challenges and difficulty finding financial institutions, even though there has been a thriving marijuana industry for a long time in California. cannabis

Crafting smart policies in connection with drugs is vital. The agency in Washington that plays a major role in crafting drug policy is called the White House Office of National Drug Control policy. According to the Washington Post, this Office is currently facing substantial cuts. If budget cuts which are currently being discussed occur, the cuts could undermine the ability of the federal government to create and enforce the nation’s drug laws. Continue reading

December 2, 2016

Legal Marijuana vs. 2nd Amendment – Gun Buyers Face Legal Conflict

By Cannabis Law Group

While a number of new states recently voted to expand marijuana rights, many did not realize that this could directly conflict with their Second Amendment right to purchase a firearm. gun

That’s because federal law – specifically 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which is part of the Gun Control Act – criminalizes the possession or receipt of a firearm by an unlawful drug user or person addicted to a controlled substance. Of course, many states have now legalized the drug, but it still remains outlawed by federal statute. Those purchasing a new firearm are asked to fill out federal background check forms that specifically ask whether the purchaser uses marijuana for recreational or medicinal purposes. If they do, they are not allowed to purchase the gun.

This conflict was recently questioned by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican who says she didn’t vote in favor of marijuana, but now she is worried about its impact on the Second Amendment rights of citizens. Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Wilson v. Lynch that the Second Amendment rights of a Nevada woman were not infringed by the federal government’s ban on sales of guns to medical marijuana card holders. The ruling is applicable to nine other states, including California. Continue reading