Mitigating and Addressing Litigation Risks for Cannabis Businesses
Cannabis M&A: Pain Points and Opportunities
Managing Labor and Employment Complexities in Cannabis Businesses
Work This Way: A Labor & Employment Law Podcast - Episode 29: Weed in the Workplace with Christy Rogers of Maynard Nexsen
Intellectual property considerations for launching new cannabis products
Unpacking the current cannabis regulatory landscape and how it impacts your business
Managing Employee Compliance in Highly Regulated Industries — Hiring to Firing Podcast
If Cannabis Is Reclassified, What Will Happen to the Marketplace? – Diagnosing Health Care
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: What’s Next for Schedule III Marijuana
Podcast - DEA Plants the Seed for Rescheduling Marijuana: What's Next?
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: How Florida Will Change the National Cannabis Landscape Through Amendment 3
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Special Edition | Episode 36 - Rolling Change: The DEA Turns Over a New Leaf on Marijuana Scheduling
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: Farmers First According to Humboldt Trim Company
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: THC Infused Beverages: Cantrip's Journey Through the Hemp-Derived Looking Glass
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: Cannabis Investing in the U.S. - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: Catalyst Cannabis Takes on the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration Over Cannabis Excise Taxes
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: Cannabis Banking from the Inside: An Interview with Salal Credit Union
(Podcast) California Employment News: Expanded Workplace Protections Regarding Cannabis Use
California Employment News: Expanded Workplace Protections Regarding Cannabis Use
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: The ‘CannaBoies' Lawsuit and Why it Matters
Despite the proliferation of state laws that legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana, federal law has remained an obstacle to access to the U.S. financial system for marijuana sellers and producers. With penalties...more
For financial institutions who engage in marijuana-related banking services, the primary compliance challenge remains the disconnect between federal and state law, as it is still illegal to manufacture, distribute, or...more
One of the largest headwinds facing the cannabis industry is the lack of access to banking services. Many financial institutions refuse to serve the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry given the regulatory uncertainty...more
Much has occurred in the last two months regarding the relationship between financial institutions and Marijuana-Related Businesses, or MRBs. In this post, we discuss three major developments, all of which share a complex...more
Live Life Federal Credit Union, a $69 million-asset credit union based in Fraser, Michigan, recently consented to a cease-and-desist order issued by the National Credit Union Administration Board (NCUA). The enforcement...more
On December 3, 2019, the federal bank regulatory agencies[1] and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in consultation with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, issued a joint guidance (2019 Hemp Guidance)...more
In November 2018, Missouri voters passed Amendment 2, setting in motion state regulated medical marijuana. Over the last month, the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (DHSS) began approving license applications...more
FDIC and OCC Propose CRA Modernization Rule with Opt-Out for Small Banks The FDIC and the OCC have jointly proposed amendments to modernize the agencies’ Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) regulations, which are intended...more
Federal bank regulators no longer require banks to submit suspicious activity reports (SARs) for legally authorized hemp business transactions, absent another required circumstance....more
On December 3, 2019, four federal agencies, in consultation with state banking regulators, clarified the legal status of hemp growth and production under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) for banks providing financial services to...more
On December 3, 2019, four federal agencies – the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), and the Office of the...more
Since the effective date of the 2018 Farm Bill, banking and the inability to acquire financing have been major impediments for the hemp industry. While demand for hemp continues to grow, banking regulations have still been...more
Banks, credit unions and insurance companies would be protected in doing business with a wide variety of businesses including marijuana sellers if the “SAFE Act,” passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on September 26,...more
We regularly blog about the conflict between state and federal law related to cannabis and the uncertainty regarding how federal criminal and Bank Secrecy Act (“BSA”) law will, or will not, be enforced against financial...more
Marijuana is estimated to be a $10 billion industry and rapidly growing. Almost all of it is conducted in cash. Although legal in thirty three states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam, marijuana remains illegal at...more
The myriad—and conflicting—state, federal and international laws governing the burgeoning marijuana industry have created a complicated legal landscape for financial institutions. In the United States, most states have...more
As we just blogged, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) has published guidance to “clarify the regulatory landscape and encourage” New York, state-chartered banks and credit unions to “offer banking...more
ON OCTOBER 2, 2012, kidnappers robbed and abducted a marijuana dispensary owner from his Newport Beach home. They then drove him to the Mojave Desert where they tortured him and demanded that he reveal where he had buried his...more
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, issued guidance on February 14, 2014 (the “Cannabis Guidance”), to clarify Bank Secrecy Act expectations for financial...more
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released updated quarterly statistics showing a continuing increase in the number of depository institutions that actively bank U.S. marijuana...more
Since 1996, when California became the first state to legalize marijuana (at the time, for medicinal purposes only), 28 additional states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana to some extent. Public support...more
Attorney General Sessions Announces Rescission of Obama Administration Policies on Marijuana Enforcement; Financial Institutions Lose Grounds to Permit Financial Transactions with Marijuana Businesses....more
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has released updated statistics showing a steady increase in the number of depository institutions that actively bank U.S. marijuana businesses. As of...more
The October 27, 2017 indictments of Paul Manafort and Richard Gates have put money laundering in the spotlight. Much of the press coverage and commentary on the indictments focused on the charge of money laundering...more
Can marijuana businesses receive federal copyright protection? Yes. The requirements for registration with the U.S. Copyright Office are that the work is original, creative and fixed in some form of expression. These...more