According to a recent news article from the Los Angeles Times, this massive growth in the legalized marijuana industry has led to equally massive ad campaigns some of which feature full-sized billboards being placed around our area. One of the major concerns is that legalized marijuana will lead to an increase in illegal marijuana use among minors, especially in the case of teenagers.

While data in other markets where marijuana has been legal for quite some time shows these fears are largely exaggerated, and mainly the product of those who are, and always will be, against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, there is no question we all want to curb any real problem of teens illegally obtaining marijuana for recreational use. This had led to the enactment of a new ordinance in the City of Los Angeles is designed to reduce the exposure of minors to these ads for marijuana industry products and services.

Specifically, the new ordinance, effective July 2018, will prohibit the placement of any billboard advertising marijuana and marijuana-related services withing 700 feet of many places where it is likely children will be present. These restrictions include the following:

• Schools
• Parks (Public)
• Playgrounds
• Libraries
• Daycare Facilities
• Youth Activity Centers

These prohibitions seem reasonable on their face, but they may face challenges as to their constitutionality as similar advertising restrictions in other industries have amounted to a ban on all advertising in large segments of urban areas creating an unbalanced result. It is hard to imagine many places in the City of Los Angeles that are not within two football fields’ distance of any one of these restricted areas.

This is only one example of a law affecting what people can do with respect to the operation of their legal marijuana businesses. The law in this area is constantly changing (some would say evolving), and it is hard for a business owner who is attempting to comply with all laws to know what to do. The best thing anyone in the marijuana industry can do to make sure they stay ahead of any major changes is to speak with an experienced Los Angeles marijuana lawyer. One thing to keep in mind, however, is while the marijuana industry has grown, so too has the number of lawyers claiming to specialize in this area of the law.

When you seek an initial consultation with a lawyer to represent your marijuana business, you should ask them how long they have been representing clients with these issues and what experience they really have so that you know you are getting the best reasonably possible legal representation for you and your business.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients, defendants, workers and those facing criminal marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Keep marijuana ads a football field (or two) away from your kids, June 18, 2018, By Elizabeth J. D’Amico, Los Angeles Times

More Blog Entries:

California Authorities Caught on Hidden Camera During Cannabis Collective Raid, June 30, 2015, Cannabis Law Group

When legalized recreational use marijuana came to Colorado, other western states, and now California as well, the concept of cannabis tourism became possible in the U.S. The problem, however, is while it is legal to go to one of these states and purchase marijuana, assuming you are over the legal age of 21, laws prohibiting public consumption of marijuana made anything other than the use of edibles very impractical. For anyone staying in a hotel, most are non-smoking entirely, and this also includes the use of marijuana products.

As our Los Angeles medical marijuana attorneys know, with very few places a tourist can legally smoke marijuana, it has resulted in a major setback in what could and should be a viable cannabis tourism industry. Those who come to area are still impressed by the large selection of quality products. But without the local equivalent to an Amsterdam coffee shop, the draw is not what it could be.

As discussed in a recent news article from the Mercury News, this is about to change as West Hollywood is becoming the first city in Los Angeles County to allow the existence of what are locally being called marijuana lounges. The law still prohibits smoking cannabis products in public places, but it does allow private landowners to choose whether to allow marijuana to be consumed on their respective properties. At first, this included the so-called bud and breakfasts, but despite the appealing nature of these establishments, they have actually proven to be few and far between.

There are still regulations that must be followed, including the prohibition of alcohol and tobacco products in the same location where marijuana is to be consumed, as well as a prohibition on operating a marijuana lounge within 600 feet of a school. These and other regulations can be somewhat confusing so the best thing those in the recreational use marijuana industry, including those who are considering opening a marijuana lounge, should do is to speak with an experienced cannabis business lawyer about their intended ventures.

One other thing to keep in mind is these marijuana lounges are not only for tourists staying in hotels which prohibit smoking. Since individual landowners are allowed to decide whether marijuana can be smoked on their property, many private and corporate landlords have chosen to disallow marijuana use on their property. This also goes for any public housing or Section 8 dwellings where federal regulations prohibit the use of any illicit drugs. This includes the use of marijuana and other cannabis products. This means roughly half of all residents of our state cannot legally consume marijuana in their own homes.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients, defendants, workers and those facing criminal marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

California cities start to slowly embrace marijuana lounges, March 16, 2016, By Brooke Staggs, Mercury News

More Blog Entries:

Small Marijuana Farmers Take State to Court, Feb. 7, 2018, L.A. Marijuana Lawyer Blog

Like any new business venture, however, new opportunities bring new challenges and expenses. For cannabis businesses which are prepared to manage these expenses, the opportunities can bring lasting cash flow to a growing industry.

Business Licenses: The majority of provisions in the Adult Use of Marijuana Act dealt with licensing businesses to sell cannabis products. According to the Desert Sun, the state is frantically working toward the “massive undertaking” of preparing its agencies to meet the Act’s January 1, 2018 deadline for issuing cannabis business licenses. While the cost of obtaining such a license has not yet been determined, it is highly likely that the cost of this “massive undertaking” will be passed on to consumers.

Once the state’s licensing process becomes established and more efficient, the cost of obtaining a cannabis business license will likely decrease. For now, however, cannabis businesses should be prepared to pay a hefty initial licensing fee. Additional administrative fees, fines, surcharges, taxes, and other costs may also arise. Businesses must allow for them in order to weather the revision of the cannabis industry.

Commercial and Industrial Rents: Bloomberg New reports on a trend among industrial real estate properties in Denver, Seattle and Portland. When Colorado, Washington and Oregon legalized recreational marijuana, the price of renting industrial space in major urban hubs increased dramatically. Research firm CoStar Group, Inc. expects the trend to continue across California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada, which have also legalized recreational marijuana.

One factor driving up rents is the unique needs of cannabis growers. Most entrepreneurs prefer small spaces which are easier to secure. In addition, federal law prohibits the growth of marijuana, which means those applying for California cannabis business licenses must demonstrate they already have the facilities to cultivate marijuana entirely within the state. The biological requirements of plant life must also be considered when looking for industrial space to rent.

Strategic Business Planning: As the cannabis industry undergoes massive changes in the wake of a regulatory revolution, business owners must plan for long-term growth. Leafly reports on the many different strategies which cultivators are exploring. Some growers are simply planning for massive expansion of their operations. Others are tapping a market niche by creating craft brands. Smaller cannabis operations are banding together to create co-operative groups, so that all members can access information and financial resources to adapt to the new cannabis industry in California.

The new 2018 business regulations for recreational marijuana can bring unexpected operating expenses and other challenges. Prepare for these regulations with a compliance action and financial planning.

The Los Angeles Cannabis Law Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Legal pot is driving up warehouse rents in Portland, Seattle, Denver, July 5, 2017, by Bloomberg News

More Blog Entries:

Issues with Regulated Marijuana Sales in California, April 10, 2017 by Cannabis Law Group

While it may seem strange to have a marijuana vending machine, there are various reasons why this may be helpful to many consumers. The first, as discussed by the company spokesperson, is that it will allow a person to get medical marijuana without having to run into someone from school, work, or church, for example.There is no question that more and more people are in support of legalization for medical marijuana, and many are for legalization of marijuana for recreational use. However, this does not mean that some of those who would vote to legalize marijuana would talk about their own marijuana use publicly and certainly would not want people to see them while they are purchasing marijuana. This is not everyone, as there are many people, especially younger people, who have no problem with people knowing they use marijuana. That being said, there are many people in conservative communities, who are older, that certainly see a stigma associated with the use of marijuana for any purpose, medical or not.

While there is certainly going to be interest in a marijuana vending machine, there is also going to be a good deal of opposition. When something is so different than what is currently on the market, there will be people who argue this is not safe, or not a good idea in general, and they will oppose it for any number of other reasons. If you are in the medical cannabis business and are thinking about purchasing this or something like it, you should seek a consultation from an experienced Orange County medical marijuana business attorney before spending any significant amount of money.

As if the concept of a marijuana vending machine is not novel enough, the company has also suggested other uses for the vending machine. Since the machine will be able to use a biometric scanner to make a positive identification of the purchases, the company says it can be used to dispense alcohol, pharmaceuticals, casino chips, and even firearms. While this may seem crazy, there are many who want no restrictions of firearms purchases, even if they may oppose the legalization of medical marijuana, so there is no telling what might happen with this idea.

There are actually vending machines that sell marijuana already in limited use. Some are made by the same company. The difference is that these are not autonomous vending machines. There is an employee of the dispensary standing by the machine that must verify the age and information provided by the purchaser and then enter a code so the machine will dispense marijuana.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

Coming Soon: Vending Machines That Scan Your Fingerprints and Sell You Pot, May 12, 2017, By Brad Tuttle, Time

More Blog Entries: Report: Most Banks Still Reticent About Reefer, Feb. 26, 2017, Marijuana Lawyer Blog

However, there haven’t been a lot of studies, because Congress still refuses to take medical marijuana off Schedule I of the U.S. Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (USCSA), and this may not change for quite some time, despite the majority of Americans now supporting legalization of medical marijuana.There has been much advancement in the knowledge base surrounding medical marijuana. We now have many different strains with different THC and CBD levels and they work for different conditions. Some are better for pain, and others are better for anxiety, for example. Some are better for vaping, and others are better for smoking in terms of treating certain medical conditions. Even the temperature at which a vaporizer is set can affect how the drug treats certain health conditions.

That is the good news for medical marijuana patients. The bad news is that there is not currently an acceptable source that holds all of this information, so people are left asking questions and watching YouTube videos for advice. However, according to a recent news article from The Portlander, the “Cannabis Health Index,” which has just hit the shelves, has promise of becoming what many see as the bible for medical marijuana. The hope, according to the author, is that a medical marijuana patient can turn to this book instead of scouring the Internet for comments to obscure blog posts to find out what works and what doesn’t. It is essentially being billed as the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) for medical marijuana.

As our Orange County medical cannabis attorneys have seen, there has been a real shift in public perception about the benefits of medical marijuana over the past few decades. While medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996, there were many who still saw medical marijuana as an excuse for people to get high. While there are clearly some who use marijuana regularly under the guise of it being medicinal, you could say the same about many prescription drugs, and often to a much more detrimental effect. The fact that some states are legalizing recreational use of marijuana shows that the use is not as troubling as the recreational use of opioid painkillers that has become a nationwide public health crisis.

Now that more people are realizing medical marijuana is real medicine, it is important to understand more about how and why the drug works, so that new and more effective therapies can be developed. However, this means more testing. While more testing is necessary, you want to make sure you are not running afoul of any local, state or federal laws in the process. The best thing you can do to avoid this is to speak with an experienced medical marijuana attorney to learn the current state of the many rules and regulations.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

The Cannabis Health Index Aims To Be a Bible of Medical Marijuana, May 2, 2017, By Matt Stangel, The Portlander

More Blog Entries:

Marijuana Equipment Business is Booming, April 14, 2017, L.A. Marijuana Attorney Blog

Prop. 64, which legalized recreational marijuana, was always intended to raise substantial tax revenue for the state. However, it was intended to do so with a 15 percent excise tax on both medicinal and recreational marijuana. The law also imposes a 7.5 percent sales tax on top of that for recreational marijuana, but repealed it for medical marijuana. Medical marijuana buyers have been paying that sales tax since the drug first became available as medicine. The idea was that medicinal users of the drug would get a tax break relative to recreational users once recreational sales start in January 2018. However, there was one problem: The 62-page initiative did not include the January 2018 target date relative to the repeal of the medical marijuana sales tax.

That means the repeal of medical marijuana sales tax in California became effective immediately. It also means that medical marijuana may be obtained tax-free in California until next January, when it will be under that 15 percent tax.

Tax-free sales of medical marijuana are going to leave the state facing a much lower marijuana tax revenue benefit. Those who drafted the law have said publicly it was not their intention to effectively create a tax-free holiday for marijuana. The state’s Board of Equalization has disagreed with this.

If recreational users do become regular customers in the tax-free medical marijuana market, in which they would have an incentive to stay, tax revenues even for 2018 could end up falling far short of what those who wrote the law anticipated. The notion is that if someone has access to medical marijuana, there is no incentive to start instead obtaining it through the recreational market, where they would have to likely find a new dispensary and preferred types of marijuana, only to pay higher taxes.

This was a big part of the reason Washington state shut down its medical marijuana program after the drug became legal for recreational purposes. The medical marijuana market was so loosely regulated and lightly taxed that Washington had no choice but to shut it down if there was any hope of a sustainable recreational marijuana system.

However in California, that’s not an option – at least not right away. That’s because both the recreational and medical systems were both created by the very same ballot initiative.

Under the law, users of medical marijuana have to present a state-issued patient ID card in order to buy marijuana that is tax-free. State officials are looking at this requirement – which costs $100 plus time to weave through the administrative red tape – to stop the state from losing tens of millions of dollars in taxes. That could mean we’ll be cracking down on dispensaries to make sure medical customers have a state-issued ID.

So far, it’s not clear that will work. A recent Board of Equalization analysis found that two out of three dispensaries haven’t been totally compliant with sales tax requirements up to this point.

Dispensaries should consider consulting with an experienced marijuana lawyer in L.A. to ensure they are compliant with all state regulations.

The Los Angeles CANNABIS LAW Group represents growers, dispensaries, collectives, patients and those facing marijuana charges. Call us at 949-375-4734.

Additional Resources:

The marijuana-initiative blunder that could cost California millions of dollars, Nov. 16, 2016, By Keith Humphreys, The Washington Post

More Blog Entries:

California Cannabis Could Be What Autos Are to Detroit, Nov. 2, 2016, California Marijuana Lawyer Blog