Jurisdiction: Colorado
Timing Matters: United Cannabis and the U.S. Trustee Compare Apples and Oranges in Recent BK Filings
As we wrote about here, United Cannabis’s bankruptcy proceeding has been under a microscope since the moment the papers were filed. The Hon. Joseph Rosania immediately entered a rule to show cause order instructing United Cannabis to explain why the revenue it generates from activities related to marijuana should not result in dismissal.
Read MoreCoronavirus Fallout: April Recreational Sales Rise in Some States, Decline in Others
As we previously discussed on our blog (here, here, and here), the cannabis industry, like most industries, is facing challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic. For example, recreational marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts were not deemed to be essential businesses and were therefore required to close under the state’s emergency order.
Read MoreIs United Cannabis Far Enough Removed From Marijuana to Receive Federal Bankruptcy Protection? Why the United Cannabis Bankruptcy Proceeding is an Important Test for the Industry
On April 20, 2020, United Cannabis Corporation, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary, UC Colorado Corporation, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. Generally speaking, federal bankruptcy protection is not available to cannabis companies because, as the United Cannabis court has already noted in an order to show cause issued this week, “activities associated with the marijuana industry are illegal under federal law and cannot be condoned by the bankruptcy courts.”
Read MoreRocky Mountain Marijuana Sales Continue to Climb
Marijuana sales in Colorado totaled nearly $1.75 billion in 2019 according to data released by the Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. The $1,747,990,628 in sales includes both recreational and medical marijuana and is a sizeable increase from 2018, when sales totaled $1,545,691,080.
Read MoreIt’s Complicated: Tax Revenue From Recreational Marijuana Remains Difficult to Estimate
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” The Works of Benjamin Franklin, 1817. That idiom remains true today, and with the legalization of recreational marijuana markets, it was widely accepted that the taxes would allow state and local governments to plug budgetary shortfalls.
Read MoreStudy Finds No Significant Change in Post-Legalization Crime Rates
A new study published by Justice Quarterly suggests that recreational marijuana legalization did not have a statistically significant impact on violent and property crime rates in Colorado and Washington. The study, titled “The Cannabis Effect on Crime: Time-Series Analysis of Crime in Colorado and Washington State,” was conducted by researchers from Washington State University, Stockton University, and the University of Utah.
Read MoreShifting Landscape: Marijuana Employment Law Starting to Trend in Favor of Employees
Marijuana-related employment lawsuits are on the rise as more workers who have been fired or denied a job over their marijuana use are utilizing litigation to challenge the decisions. This, in turn, is forcing employers to formulate new strategies to balance the risk of litigation against the possibility of impaired employees hurting someone on the job, damaging the business, or possibly even worse.
Read MoreAccess Granted: Colorado’s Thriving Cannabis Market Now Open to Outside Investors
When Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014, it prohibited publicly traded cannabis companies from operating in the market. This created a unique Colorado marijuana market populated by a diverse group of smaller, local operators. That is about to change; Governor Jared Polis recently signed into law HB19-1090, a measure that will allow larger, out-of-state investors to enter Colorado’s market effective November 1, 2019.
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