Big news out of the Sunshine State today. The Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use has set the due date for applications for 22 more Medical Marijuana Treatment Center licenses. By Emergency Rule published today, the OMMU set an application due date of window of 9:00 AM on April 24, 2023 through 5:00 PM on April 28, 2023, and will make available for award 22 vertically integrated MMTC licenses. … More

In a case of first impression, a bankruptcy court refused to allow an individual to receive bankruptcy relief because he was, and continued to be, employed by a cannabis business.[1]  The United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts (Central Division) recently dismissed the chapter 13 bankruptcy case of a debtor who proposed to use his wages from his employment at a marijuana dispensary to fund a chapter 13 plan of reorganization.… More

As the number of adult-use states continues to grow—with New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont recently joining the ranks—the scrutiny of cannabis-related advertising has grown with it.  In recent years, state and federal regulators have made it clear that cannabis claims are a priority, especially claims stating or implying a health benefit.  Most of the attention to date has been on CBD products and claims, but as THC products hit the shelves in more and more states,… More

2022 has been a rollercoaster of a year for the cannabis industry. On the upside, several states have passed legislation to either permit adult use or permit a medical marijuana program. Federally, simple possession cannabis offenses have been pardoned and legislation was passed to allow for research into cannabis. On the downside, the industry has been in a slump as the market gets more crowded and investor streams are drying up.… More

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (“CRC”) has been busy in 2022 reviewing thousands of applications submitted for Class 1 Cultivators, Class 2 Manufacturers, and Class 5 Retailers, and has added an additional use – consumption lounges – that will undoubtedly be met with additional applications and activities for those endorsements in 2023 and beyond.

By way of brief background and reminder, at the end of 2021,… More

The New York Cannabis Control Board (“CCB”) held a momentous meeting on November 21, 2022 wherein it continued to issue more conditional cultivation, processing, and dispensing licenses, but, perhaps more importantly, proposed for issuance the first set of adult-use cannabis regulations that will govern all of the non-conditional licenses issued to date.

New York, both through the CCB and the Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”),… More

New York continue to take steps towards its goal of commencing adult-use sales within the next several weeks (if not months). Today, the Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”) issued guidance for the conduct and operation of adult-use retail dispensaries, both specifically in reference to Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensaries (“CAURD”), but more broadly, for all retailers moving forward.

In its twenty-seven (27) page guidance document, OCM began identifying the rules of the road for retailers seeking to operate in New York,… More

Key Takeaways:

• 
• Pardons are long overdue. States need to follow the President’s lead
• Descheduling or Rescheduling will take time and would be subject to administrative rule making
• While capital markets could unlock and the heavy drag of 280E could go away, descheduling or rescheduling would create huge challenges for state rules, including social equity, and could result in a wave of interstate commerce

Today,… More

The New York Office of Cannabis Management has released the number of conditional adult-use retail dispensaries the state will permit for each region. The state will award a maximum of 150 conditional adult-use retail dispensary (CAURD) licenses. The license caps are tied to the area’s population, with the highest number of these dispensaries being in Manhattan (22), Long Island (20), and Brooklyn (19), as indicated in the table below.

In order to qualify for a CAURD license,… More

The New York State Cannabis Control Board (“CCB”) approved 15 Adult-Use Conditional Processor (“AUCP”) licenses during its public meeting today, adding a key link in the state’s budding adult-use cannabis supply chain.  Pursuant to the legislation signed by Governor Hochul in February, which we wrote about here, processors who hold a Cannabinoid Hemp Processor license from the Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”) qualify to apply for the adult-use conditional processor license. … More