Earlier this month, Simas & Associates, Ltd. applied in response to a Request for Statement of Qualifications (SOQ)from the County of San Luis Obispo to serve as Hearing Officers regarding cannabis-related licensed business in the County. As part of this initial SOQ search, the County is seeking at least five (5) qualified Read more…
Temporary licenses issued by the Bureau of Cannabis Control for retailers, distributors, microbusinesses, testing laboratories, and event organizers are now in effect and businesses can begin operating in California’s newly-legal commercial cannabis market. More than 400 Cannabis operators, from Shasta Lake to the City of San Diego, now hold state Read more…
California’s three state cannabis licensing authorities announced today that proposed emergency licensing regulations for commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis have been posted online and are available to the public for review. The Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau of Cannabis Control, Department of Public Health’s Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch, and Department Read more…
On July 26, 2017, the Bureau of Cannabis Control announced that it would be withdrawing previous efforts to promulgate regulations regarding medical cannabis. Earlier this spring, the Department of Consumer Affairs’ then Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation, Department of Public Health (DPH) and Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) simultaneously Read more…
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is one of three agencies that will be overseeing California's regulation of medical marijuana and cannabis. CDFA's responsibility is to create the "Medical Cannabis Cultivation Program" (Program) for implementing the commercial medical cultivation regulations and develop and manage a cannabis track-and-trace system. To Read more…
The Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation (BMC), Department of Public Health (CDPH), Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) are all creating new regulations to clarify and define existing law regarding the use of cannabis and medical cannabis in the state of California. For your information, oversight of cannabis has been split Read more…
This blog is to discuss the grounds for license denial or discipline under the new Bureau of Medical Cannabis (“BMC”) draft regulations enacted pursuant to the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA). Purpose of Regulations Under MCRSA, the BMC (https://bmcr.ca.gov/) was created to license and regulate dispensaries, distributors, transporters, Read more…
Laws are enacted by the Legislature and are called “statutes.” However, the statutes enacted are often are not comprehensive; they do not specify exactly how the stated goals of the legislation are to be achieved, implemented, enforced, penalized, etc. Moreover, the Legislature often enacts statutes that allow or require a state Read more…
On March 7, 2017, voters in the County of Sonoma were tasked with deciding whether to authorize the county to impose taxes on commercial marijuana operations in unincorporated areas of the County. Specifically, Measure A asked voters: Shall an ordinance be adopted imposing a cannabis business tax in unincorporated Sonoma Read more…
With the legalization of recreational marijuana on the near horizon, the legal topic du jour in administrative law is everything and anything about medical cannabis or recreational marijuana. As such, there are a lot of upcoming conferences attempting to address legal and practical questions about the burgeoning industry. Whether you Read more…