#californiacannabis – ““The CUP requirement caps a year-long effort by the Coalition and the community to strengthen controls of cannabis cultivation facilities” stated Coalition for Responsible Cannabis President Blair Pence. “While we believe there is more work to be done, the CUP requirement is an important step in better controlling odors and other impacts from commercial scale cannabis in Santa Barbara County.”…
The Coalition has been actively involved in the County’s permitting and regulation of cannabis over the past three years. The County has approved a series of actions to strengthen regulation of cannabis at the Coalition’s urging, including imposition of a 1,575-acre cap on cannabis cultivation in the inland zones of the County, prohibition of cannabis operations in identified rural neighborhoods, mandating Odor Abatement Plans for cannabis cultivation operations where over 51% of the parcel is planted in cannabis, mandating that cannabis processing be conducted in enclosed facilities with best available control technologies to control odor, property line setbacks, limits on transfers of ownership of cannabis facilities, and more.
“As long as cannabis odors and other impacts harm our neighborhoods, schools, and businesses, the Coalition and its supporters will press the Board of Supervisors to adopt sensible regulations on commercial cannabis operations,” Pence said.”
https://www.montecitojournal.net/2022/08/23/cannabis-changes/
#cannabisindustry – “The fundamental issue in the case was whether the Dormant Commerce Clause applies in the context of illegal markets. The defendants conceded that protectionist legislation, such as the residency requirement in Maine’s medical marijuana law, is virtually always unconstitutional. They argued, however, that the residency requirement was not invalid because federal law makes the interstate marijuana market illegal. If the interstate market itself is illegal, there is at least a serious question whether the Constitution prevents states from interfering with interstate commerce in that market.
Judge Barron, writing for the majority, held that it does. The Court concluded that an interstate market for medical marijuana not only exists despite federal laws to the contrary, but that it has implicitly been recognized by Congress through the enactment of appropriation riders (the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment) preventing the Department of Justice from interfering with state laws legalizing and regulating medical marijuana. The Court also concluded that the Dormant Commerce Clause affirmatively protects such illicit markets – at least where Congress has implicitly recognized the existence of such markets and permitted states to regulate the market. Finally, the Court concluded that Congress had not affirmatively permitted states to adopt protectionist legislation in the medical marijuana market. According to the majority, the Dormant Commerce Clause applies regardless of the illicit nature of a particular interstate trade.”
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-dormant-commerce-clause-and-6088655/
#californiacannabis – “According to the order, while LAHC did issue an ultimatum threatening to terminate the license if Dr. Greenthumb did not terminate its agreement with a rival store, that does not amount to an anticipatory breach in the agreement, as LAHC never actually terminated the agreement and has not repudiated or denied the validity of the agreement.
Even if LAHC’s conduct had given Dr. Greenthumb the reasonable belief that LAHC would not perform its obligations under the contract, Dr. Greenthumb never demanded reassurance of performance, while LAHC did provide reassurance and attempted to resolve matters through negotiation.”
#californiacannabis – “A Los Angeles County judge has given the go-ahead to the state’s tax office to enter a cannabis dispensary, which owes more than $718,000, in order to seize cash, but the court limited the number of times the agency can go into the business to collect.
Superior Court Judge Jon R. Takasugi on Friday approved a warrant of entry sought by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration that will allow it to send officers into TopSpot Whittier to collect “cash and cash equivalents.” But the tax office will only get three opportunities to collect the more than $718,204 the company allegedly owes in taxes, fees and interest as the judge refused to give officers any more chances.
“CDTFA’s supplemental briefing did not set forth any legal basis for its request that the order allow entry on 10 different occasions,” Judge Takasugi said in his minute order filed Thursday. “CDTFA’s ex parte application is granted in part. Given the lack of any legal basis for its request that the order allow entry on 10 different occasions, the court grants the ex parte application to allow three instances of entry.””
#californiacannabis – “The financiers behind Rx Depot Group Inc. claim that Tomer Aseraf, an investor turned vice president, used his position to steal $364,849.87 while the business was “still in precarious financial turmoil.” They say he took from the company’s bank account for personal use and never paid it back, the suit said.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday, accuses Aseraf and a company he owns, Djet LLC, of fraud and deceit, breaching a fiduciary duty, breaching a contract and violating the state’s unfair competition and restraint of trade statutes. It seeks at least $600,000 in damages and attorney’s fees and punitive damages on top of that.
Through his LLC, Aseraf bought into Rx Depot with the purchase of nearly half a million shares for $118,000, and he became a director and CFO in August 2018, according to the complaint.
Even with Aseraf’s stock buy and other investments he put into the company, Rx Depot remained in a financial bind and needed additional money. So Alfredo Cortex, a principal at the company and one of the plaintiffs in the suit, secured a “high interest” loan worth $500,000 by putting up real estate property owned by his family as collateral, the lawsuit said.
Sometime after finding out about this influx of cash, Aseraf withdrew more than half of it without the consent of the company’s other principals, the suit claims.”
Law Office of Dale Schafer 