Legal

A federal judge in Arkansas dismissed several claims by a medical marijuana dispensary applicant, including tortious interference and racial discrimination during the state’s license-evaluation process. According to Law360, U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. ruled that tortious interference doesn’t apply to the claim made by Absolute Essence because it’s still an applicant and doesn’t have any property or business rights. Absolute Essence’s suit in February 2022 alleged that the company that state regulators hired to score applications, Public Consulting Group Holdings and… Read more.

Following adult-use cannabis legalization in Missouri, the state has granted more than 15,000 expungements of nonviolent misdemeanor and felony cannabis crimes, KMOV reports. Under the state’s voter-approved adult-use cannabis law, possession of up to three ounces is legal for adults and all eligible misdemeanors for individuals who completed their sentences must be expunged automatically by June 8, while low-level felonies must be expunged by December 8.   Charges that included selling cannabis to a minor, violence, or driving under the influence are not eligible… Read more.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged American Patriot Brands Inc. (APB), its chief executive officer, and five other entities with siphoning off millions of dollars in a long-running scheme that defrauded more than 100 investors across the country. According to the SEC’s complaint, APB CEO Robert Y. Lee, along with current and former executives Brian L. Pallas and J. Bernard Rice, began making a series of “false and misleading statements to investors” in 2016 about the company’s financial position… Read more.

A Pennsylvania appeals court last Friday ruled that the state’s medical cannabis law does not prohibit insurers from reimbursing injured workers for medical cannabis in cases where it is used to treat accepted work-related injuries, according to a Business Insurance report. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decision found that the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board erred when it upheld a decision by Firestone Tire & Rubber to deny reimbursement for the cost of an employee’s medical cannabis.  The claimant, Paul Sheetz, who is now deceased, used medical cannabis… Read more.

A group that includes some of New York’s medical cannabis companies is suing the state over its plan to issue adult-use retail cannabis licenses to social equity applicants before opening applications to all businesses, Syracuse.com reports. The complaint alleges unconstitutional overreach and policymaking, egregious abdication of duties, and actions that put citizens’ health and safety at risk.  The lawsuit was filed by the Coalition for Access to Regulated & Safe Cannabis which describes itself as “an unincorporated trade association.” The group includes Acreage… Read more.

Police in Pomona, California, are investigating a business where they found 1,500 pounds of unlicensed marijuana products as well as electronic casino gaming consoles. The business also had an area dedicated to selling cannabis, The LeafDesk reported. According to the media outlet, police estimated the value of the cannabis products, which included flower, edibles and hashish oil, at $1.3 million. However, government agencies often inflate such estimates. The investigation comes on the heels of a recent report by California regulators about the… Read more.

Multistate operators with New York medical cannabis licenses sued regulators on Thursday in an attempt to gain quick entry into the state’s adult-use marijuana market. The MSOs are currently shut out from New York’s legal recreational market. In a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court in Albany, the Coalition for Access to Regulated and Safe Cannabis (CARSC) alleges that the Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board violated New York’s 2021 legalization law – the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act… Read more.

Seattle dispensary owner and former Sonic Shawn Kemp was involved in a shooting incident at the Tacoma Mall on Mar. 8. Tacoma PD reported: "An altercation between the occupants of 2 cars led to shots being fired at a parking lot in the 4500 blk of S. Steele St. One car fled. No injuries were reported. A gun was recovered. A 53-yr-old male was booked for Drive-By Shooting. The investigation is ongoing." That male person was Kemp, the six-time NBA… Read more.

Cannabis regulators in Michigan have suspended the medical and adult-use cannabis business licenses of TAS Asset Holdings after discovering the company was adding unregulated cannabis to its products. Michigan regulators have suspended the medical and adult-use cannabis licenses of TAS Asset Holdings after it found its products were combined with unregulated cannabis product before being sold in the regulated market.  The affected products were marketed under the “Fwaygo Extracts” brand and produced between November 10, 2022, and November 17, 2022. … Read more.

Amsterdam Bans Weed Smoking in the Red Light District Amsterdam's red light district has been a haven for tourists seeking liberation from the rules and regulations of their mundane lives. However, the residents of this vibrant district are keen to tone down the wild atmosphere. The city council recently announced that cannabis use would be prohibited on the streets of the red light district, citing the disruptive and dreary ambiance that often lingers in the area during the night. This new regulation… Read more.

Legislation to eventually allow Washington State marijuana companies to engage in interstate commerce passed out of a House committee on Tuesday. A companion bill on the Senate side cleared its own committee hurdle last month. If the legislation is enacted, interstate marijuana trade would depend on a policy change at the federal level: either a law “to allow the interstate transfer of cannabis” between legal businesses or an opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice “allowing or tolerating” marijuana commerce across… Read more.

Former cartel bosses, drug traffickers and police officers took the stand this week in the trial of Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former federal security minister and architect of the country’s war on drugs, which he carried out while publicly working with the DEA and secretly working with the world most powerful drug cartel capo, Joaquín “El Chapo" Guzmán.  No, this is not a script for the fourth season of Netflix’s 'El Chapo' series though it would make an intriguing Mexican telenovela as the most trusted… Read more.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s announcement Thursday that it won’t regulate products containing CBD and will instead pass that buck to Congress means the preservation of the current, uneasy status quo for now. It will also mean more work for an increasingly fractious Congress – and further uncertainty for companies deciding whether to enter the $4 billion-plus CBD business.  In addition to grappling with broader marijuana policy reform – including access to banking, tax relief and the question of federal… Read more.

Changes are afoot among the rules and regulations governing cannabis in several states this year. Weed laws are evolving in 11 states thanks to voter-drive ballot initiatives, new laws introduced in state legislatures, and executive orders enacted by state governors. So, what’s happening? Cannawayz.com has a quick rundown of new laws, rules, and regulations, broken down state by state: California Taxes are going up (already one of the most heavily taxed weed markets), which is a huge bummer! But at… Read more.

Opportunities in the U.S. cannabis industry continue to expand, despite some notable setbacks in the November 2022 elections and continuing resistance at the federal level to marijuana reform. Up to four new state markets could launch this year: Alabama, Connecticut, Mississippi and Missouri. That’s on top of the recent adult-use launches in New York and Rhode Island. When mature, the New York market will likely be the second largest in the nation. Market snapshots States coming online this year have potentially lucrative futures,… Read more.

Swedish attorney goes after Mark Zuckerberg for marijuana investment fraud scheme Regarding the marijuana Ponzi scam Juicy Fields, Swedish attorney Lars Olofsson has filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook and Instagram's parent company Meta (META). The scam affected over 800 persons across about 80 countries,  particularly in Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, and Malta, and each one of them is in support of the ongoing legal battle. The lawsuit alleges that Facebook failed to supervise who they authorized to utilize… Read more.

The cannabis industry has always had to fight and claw for everything it has gotten from the hands of the law. From its present stance before state governments to the numerous open medical and recreational markets. It has always been a struggle and it looks to continue to be as cannabis businesses are now being targeted using the RICO statute. A tactic that was once reserved specifically for the mafia is now being employed against legitimate cannabis businesses. Read on as… Read more.

If Dan Bilzerian had listened to his father and not taken his marijuana company public, the brash Instagram celebrity’s Ignite International Brands might not currently be under investigation by both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice. “There is no reason to have a public company unless you intend to raise capital” from public markets, as Dan Bilzerian’s father, Paul, told MJBizDaily in an interview last month. Paul Bilzerian, who said he is now serving as an unpaid… Read more.

Black people are still more likely to be arrested for cannabis-related crimes in Virginia despite adult-use legalization, the Washington Post reports. The reforms took effect July 1, 2021, and while arrests for cannabis have dropped overall, Black adults accounted for nearly 60% of such cases before the state’s district and circuit courts, according to the Post analysis.   Black people account for about 20% of Virginia’s population. The bulk of the arrests is for distribution as legal sales have not yet commenced in the… Read more.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- It was quiet morning on Thursday, Oct. 6, inside Traverse City’s Great Lakes Hemp Supplements, a cannabis business with CBD products and a decal on the window that reads, “healers not dealers.” The solace shattered. “This is raid,” shouted Michigan state troopers who rushed in the front door. “Someone’s screaming, ‘state police,’” said 26-year-old office manager Megan O’Brien, who was meeting with a customer in another room. “I come around the corner and there are like… Read more.

Hello, My names River Maguire. I’m From Mendocino county, I’m a 2nd generation farmer. I am writing you in regards to a huge labor scandal that occurred last year at the “Bad Lands” legal grow out in Lake County, Ca. I was one of the head managing farmers that was hired for the project, By Patrick Warner of Outcrop and Jed and Josiah of Humboldt Standard. I worked and was a manager of Outcrop for 3 seasons. Not one of… Read more.