By Steve Schain With Corona brewer and Robert Mondavi wine producer Constellation Brands Inc. investing $3.88 billion in grower Canopy Growth Corp. and the Wall Street Journal estimating 2018 U.S. legal marijuana sales at $10.2 billion, the writing’s on the wall: cannabis is big business and ripe for the plucking by the plaintiffs bar. Lawsuits […]
Preparing for Marijuana Industry Lawsuit Tidal Wave: The Claims (Part I)
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series. “The international market for cannabis is projected to hit $31.4 billion by 2021. Currently,… By Steven Schain “The international market for cannabis is projected to hit $31.4 billion by 2021. Currently, the global market is estimated to be worth $7.7 billion and will see a […]
Industrial Hemp: Legalized Marijuana’s More Lucrative Sibling
Derived from the identical plants, much easier to cultivate, and profoundly more profitable, industrial hemp lacks legalized marijuana’s glamour and intrigue. Derived from the identical plants, much easier to cultivate, and profoundly more profitable, industrial hemp lacks legalized marijuana’s glamour and intrigue. However, industrial hemp’s staggering growth and application has eclipsed that of marijuana and […]
Trump Administration Bars SBA Loans to Cannabis Industry Support Businesses
In a policy notice effective April 3, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) updated its standard operating procedures (SOP) to prohibit providing loans to both marijuana- and hemp- related businesses and businesses deriving any gross revenue from sales to marijuana related businesses (MRBs) including those providing lighting, hydroponic equipment or testing services (SBA policy notice). […]
New Jersey and Adult-Use Marijuana—Perfect Together?
By Steven Schain How gung-ho is New Jersey’s proposed adult-use marijuana program? Beyond generating tens of millions of annual tax revenue, New Jersey’s adult-use marijuana program will decimate neighboring states’ medical marijuana programs. How gung-ho is New Jersey’s proposed adult-use marijuana program? With Gov. Phil Murphy estimating over $850 million in 2019 sales, the program […]
Cannabis Banking Issues: All Cash and No Flash
Marijuana related businesses face staggering safety, security and operational issues. Ever accidentally find $7.2 billion of cash in your back pocket? The cannabis industry did in 2017, after virtually no bank would accept legalized marijuana sales deposits. Due to difficulty in obtaining financial services and because marijuana is a “cash only” business, marijuana related businesses […]
Jeff Sessions Waives Sword of Damocles
By Steve Schain With Jeff Sessions threatening to singlehandedly crush $7.2 billion legalized marijuana industry spanning 30 states, generating millions in taxes and providing 10 of thousands of jobs, much confusion abounds. While unclear if merely a “knee jerk reaction” to California program’s launch breadth of coverage, unless and until the United States Department of […]
Lessons Learned From the First Phase of Pennsylvania’s Marijuana Program
With the dust settling and fuzzy math shrieks abating, Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program’s first phase has drawn to a close. Or has it? Denying 408 applications and demanding its 12 grower/processor and 27 dispensary licensees construct statutorily compliant facilities within 182 days, the program’s overseeing agency, Pennsylvania’s Department of Health (DOH), faces Herculean obstacles in […]
Marijuana Banking Takes Massive Leap Forward
Last month witnessed a marijuana banking explosion. Spanning 29 states and generating $7.2 billion in 2016, the United States’ legalized marijuana industry’s greatest obstacle—banking—was significantly reduced by the Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) June 6, 2017, “marijuana banking update,” The Fourth Corner Credit Union v. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, […]
What’s a Marijuana-Related Business Actually Worth?
Ever try valuing a business that is 100 percent illegal? Specifically, one shrouded in irrational exuberance, lacking audited financial records and topping the U.S. attorney general’s hit list? Because “plant touching” marijuana related businesses (MRBs) have only been operating between a decade in Colorado to as little as several months in 29 other states, few […]
Will SAFE banking act solve marijuana businesses’ banking issues?
Due to difficulty in obtaining financial services and because marijuana is a “cash only” business, marijuana-related businesses (MRBs) face staggering safety, security and operational issues. Help is on the way for this $7.2 billion per year industry via the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (SAFE Banking Act), 114 HR 2076, the stated aim of […]
Canna Business 101: Underpowered and Oversupplied
By Steven M. Schain They’re legalized marijuana’s “dirty little secrets;” grid-crashing energy demands and glut-producing price drops. Permitting only energy-intensive, indoor growing facilities, neither Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act, 35 P.S. Sections 10231.101-10231.2110 and regulations promulgated under (Pennsylvania marijuana law), nor the program’s regulatory agency [Department of Health (DOH)], provide for the increased electricity demand, grid […]
How Puerto Rico Became Legalized Marijuana’s Boomtown
By Steven Schain Providing a dazzling array of federal and state tax exemptions and credits, a hugely untapped market serving all other states’ card holders, and relief from profitability’s greatest obstacle, IRC Section 280E, Puerto Rico is swiftly becoming the nation’s most attractive jurisdiction to grow and dispense marijuana. Puerto Rico’s Medical Marijuana Industry To […]
Canna Business 101: Ancillary Businesses Get in on Action
By Steven Schain Magellan Fund founder Peter Lynch is credited with saying: “Although during the Gold Rush most miners lost money, people selling picks, shovels, tents and blue-jeans made a nice profit.” With the United States’ legalized marijuana sales poised to exceed $7 billion, and Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada’s ballots listing “adult use” […]
Canna Business 101: Insurance Coverage Options
By Steven Schain With Colorado’s July 2016 legalized marijuana sales reaching $122.7 million and nationwide annual sales to exceed $7 billion, insurance coverage should be plentiful and easily obtained. Instead, carriers are exiting the market, premium costs are increasing, and claims are being denied. Despite bellwethers Lloyd’s of London and Mutual of Omaha’s negative stance, […]
Canna Business 101: Pa. Grow/Processor Regulations
With Arizona recently receiving 750 applications for 31 medical marijuana dispensary licenses, Pennsylvania’s Department of Health is bracing for the tidal wave of medical marijuana program applications for the 25 grow/processor and 50 dispensary permits. On Aug. 18, Pennsylvania’s Department of Health issued two sets of temporary regulations under its Medical Marijuana Act, 35 P.S. […]
Canna Business 101: Funding Types and Sources
By Steven Schain Joining 24 states and the District of Columbia, legalized medical cannabis has come to Pennsylvania. If even less than 1 percent of its 12.8 million residents participate, the commonwealth’s medical marijuana program will be populated by more than 100,000 card holders, which leading trade publication Marijuana Business Daily estimates will generate $100 […]
Canna Business 101: Packaging and Labeling Compliance
By Steven Schain It doesn’t end with 100 percent federal illegality and rigorous Drug Enforcement Agency and Department of Treasury oversight. Selling medical or adult use marijuana to consumers requires complying with federal, state and local packaging and labeling regulations and regulators. Leading trade publication Marijuana Business Daily reports that “packaging labeling, and product safety” […]
