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 MoreLast Friday, Leafly released its latest annual jobs report and the numbers are encouraging. Leafly reports that the legal cannabis industry supports 243,700 full-time-equivalent jobs as of January 2020. That number grew by 33,700 new jobs over the past 12 months, which makes legal cannabis the fastest-growing industry in the United States.
Read MoreYesterday, the Massachusetts House of Representatives passed a bill impacting Host Community Agreements. These State-required contracts are the lynchpin of the license application process in Massachusetts because marijuana businesses must enter into such agreements with the city or town where they operate as a precursor to getting a license from the State. In particular, the bill would provide the Massachusetts’s Cannabis Control Commission with the explicit power to regulate and enforce Host Community Agreements and would prohibit Host Community Agreements from including any financial obligations for the company other than a “community impact fee” of up to 3% of gross sales. The bill also authorizes cities and towns to waive the State’s Host Community Agreement requirement. However, it is unclear if any cities or towns would actually exercise that right.
Read MoreAccording to a story released by The Boston Globe last night, US Attorney Andrew Lelling has launched a grand jury inquiry related to “Host Community Agreements” for cannabis operations in Massachusetts.
Read More“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 MoreThe cannabis-related job market continues to expand according to a PoliticoPro report (subscription required) that analyzed data from Indeed.com, an employment search engine. In May 2016, cannabis job postings accounted for 231 per million total job postings. By May 2019, that number has increased nearly four-fold to 915 postings per million.
Read MoreTo keep pace with the growing cannabis industry in Massachusetts, certain banks and credit unions in the state are now expanding the services that they offer to cannabis companies. According to The Boston Globe, a small group of financial institutions in Massachusetts have begun offering banking to recreational marijuana companies.
Read MoreAs the cannabis industry continues to expand in Massachusetts following the state’s legalization of recreational marijuana, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin warned that cannabis companies will face increased scrutiny from the state’s securities regulators.
Read MoreAccording to this recent article in the Boston Globe, last week the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission voted 4-1 in favor of allowing delivery of marijuana products to residential properties across the state.
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