April 17, 2018 – Update: On Friday, April 13, 2018, the Office of Administrative Law approved the emergency cannabis regulations pertaining to Shared-Use Cannabis Manufacturing Facilities. A copy of the text of the final approved regulations filed with the California Secretary of State is available here at Endorsed Emergency Regulations for Shared-Use Facilities. March […]
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March 8, 2018 – Monday, March 5, Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch announced that her office would be proactively reviewing past marijuana-related crimes to see which were eligible for expungement under Proposition 64. This is a complete shift from Ravitch’s initial position, when she initially said last month that […]
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January 22, 2018 – On Saturday, January 20, 2018, the federal government partially shut down due to the failure of Congress to pass a budget. Since the minimal protection that medical cannabis has enjoyed at the federal level exists as a rider to the federal budget, this government shutdown caused […]
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January 18, 2018 – On January 1, 2018, two new cannabis taxes went in effect in California: the excise tax and the cultivation tax. These taxes only apply to cannabis that is in the commercial market, not cannabis grown for personal or medical use as legally permitted. The cannabis tax […]
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January 4, 2018 – Today, United States Attorney General Jefferson B. Sessions, III rescinded a number of federal memoranda that provided guidance regarding marijuana and medical marijuana enforcement. Included in the memos that were rescinded is the Cole Memo, which laid out eight marijuana enforcement priorities for federal prosecutors in […]
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What a year 2017 has been: for California’s cannabis community, for the United States as a whole, and for our law office here in Sebastopol. October 2017 brought the most destructive wildfires that California has ever seen to our backyard. In our home of Sonoma County alone, over 6000 structures burned (including over […]
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Within California’s cannabis community, there is a lot of anxiety over what will happen on January 1, 2018, the date when the the initial temporary licenses for commercial cannabis businesses issued by the State of California become effective. Under the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), California’s […]
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by Omar Figueroa December 8, 2017 California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control (hereafter the “Bureau”) has proposed two new non-statutory licenses: the Cannabis Event Organizer License, as well as the Temporary Cannabis Event License. As 2018 rapidly approaches, the announcement of a new type of state license specific to cannabis […]
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August 28, 2017 Federal trademarks registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) are valuable business assets that, if possible, should be cultivated and protected. The ® registration symbol can be used in conjunction with a trade or service mark if, and only if, the mark has been […]
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Bank of America has been named as a defendant in the civil RICO (“Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act”) lawsuit filed in federal court in Oregon in June of 2017. This will send shock waves through the financial and insurance industries: “Defendant Bank of America, N.A. (“Defendant Bank of America”) […]
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