Although marijuana is now legal for recreational or medical use in 37 states, it is still a federal crime to grow, sell or possess marijuana. With Congress unable to come to an agreement on marijuana's legal status, the Biden administration has been considering other means at its disposal to change its legal status. Following the recommendation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last...
New York's recreational cannabis industry has the potential to be a multibillion-dollar industry. Yet, in the first year of legality, New York cannabis is struggling to generate the expected tax revenues for the state government, with a meager $70 million in legal sales as of August. This may come as a surprise to New Yorkers, who have become accustomed to seeing dispensaries on virtually every...
Though cannabis’ status as a Schedule 1 controlled substance has hampered the industry’s ability to fully integrate into the digitally dominated payment world, with credit card issuers refusing to process cannabis transactions, cannabis businesses have historically been able to enjoy similar benefits of efficiency, convenience, and security with debit cards. However, MasterCard’s recent ban on...
2023 may create the harshest conditions yet for the cannabis industry. The economy was already expected to be a challenge to profitability and now turmoil in the banking sector may further distract Congress from passing meaningful marijuana banking legislation, continuing to limit access to credit. Yet, as the market continues its inevitable march toward federal legalization, it is possible to...
Around the time Reuters published our article regarding bankruptcy eligibility, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California (LA Division) issued a decision in In re The Hacienda Company, LLC, that thoughtfully articulates the balancing of governmental policies, bankruptcy purposes and creditors’ rights a bankruptcy court should engage in when dealing with cannabis and...
You may have heard this before: As cannabis remains a Schedule I drug under the federal Controlled Substances Act ("CSA"), cannabis companies cannot seek bankruptcy relief under federal law. Not so fast. Access to bankruptcy can be highly fact-dependent.
Joseph Cioffi participated in a panel in which cannabis-related businesses learned what they could do to maximize their opportunities to obtain financing in a challenging market, while managing the operational and legal risks that matter most to capital providers.
