Local Jurisdictions Start 2025 with New Cannabis Rules, Plans, and Retail
California cities and counties have started the new year with changes to their cannabis rules and plans, and an expansion of retail access. This month, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved a revised Cannabis Strategic Plan, while the Board of Supervisors of Tulare County unanimously passed an amendment to their cannabis ordinance to allow […]
Ninth Circuit Revives Property Owner Class Action Lawsuit Against Humboldt County
In a momentum-shifting decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has revived a landowner class action lawsuit challenging Humboldt County’s cannabis abatement program. This week in Thomas v. Cnty. of Humboldt, Cal., No. 23-15847 (9th Cir. Dec. 30, 2024), the Ninth Circuit reversed a district court’s 2023 dismissal of a class […]
California Cannabis Excise Tax Increase Looming for Next Fiscal Year
The cannabis tax reform measures contained in AB 195 (2022) may have eliminated the state’s cultivation tax a couple of years ago, but California’s government looks set on a course to recoup that lost cultivation tax revenue through an increase in the state’s excise tax starting in July 2025. This month, the California Legislative Analyst’s […]
Beverly Hills Bar Association to Host Shay for December 18 Webinar
Join Shay on December 18 at 10 a.m. (PT) for an online webinar presentation looking at the cannabis laws signed by Governor Newsom in the 2024 California Legislative Session. From the “cannabis cafe” bill to new advertising prohibitions for hemp, Shay will provide a deep dive into the laws that will shape the cannabis and […]
The Cannabis Laws of the 2024 California Legislative Session
As we look forward to the beginning of a new session of the California Legislature in 2025, here is a look back at the California cannabis laws enacted in 2024 in an article I just published in the Los Angeles / San Francisco Daily Journal.
Cannabis Arrests Again Surpassed 200,000 in 2023, Concentrated in U.S. South & Midwest
For the second year in a row, the FBI has reported that law enforcement made over two-hundred-thousand (200,000) arrests in the United States related to cannabis. Of those charged with violating marijuana laws in 2023, eighty-four percent (84%) were charged with possession only, and the FBI reported that in 2023 nearly twenty-five (25%) percent of […]
California Local Jurisdictions Must Meet Ten Conditions to Implement “Cannabis Cafe” Law
Sponsored by Assemblymember Matt Haney (D – San Francisco), AB 1775, the “Cannabis Cafe” bill, goes into effect on January 1, 2025, and a number of California cannabis operators are already looking ahead to the implementation of this legislation. In Southern California, National City’s only permitted cannabis consumption lounge is expecting to be the first […]
Governor Newsom Signs Nine Cannabis Bills, Including “Cannabis Cafe” Bill, Into Law
Today, the last day for Governor Newsom to sign bills passed by both chambers in the 2024 California Legislative Session, Governor Newsom has now signed a total of nine cannabis-related bills into law including: Governor Newsom has also vetoed one cannabis-related bill: AB 1111 (Pellerin), which would establish a small producer event sales license allowing […]
Marijuana Rescheduling Means Federal Status Quo for Recreational Prohibition & FDA Approval
Even if the DEA reschedules marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the federal ban on recreational cannabis will remain in place, and the FDA drug approval process will remain as the only pathway for any drug containing marijuana to be federally legally marketed and sold in the United […]
Small Cannabis Producer Event Sales Bill Awaits California Senate Floor Vote
California cannabis cultivators are struggling with wholesale price depression from oversupply, outsized competition from the illicit cannabis market, and now losses from wildfires driven by climate change. Many cannabis farmers are surrendering cultivation licenses amid a 12% decline in the total value of all California cannabis products sold from $6 billion (in 2021) to $5.3 […]
