Full disclosure: David Belsky is a personal friend (don’t hold it against him) and his company, FlowerHire, is a firm client. He is also one of the foremost authorities on placing talent in the regulated cannabis and hemp industries. Earlier this week, Forbes posted a great interview with Belsky that we highly recommend.
Read MoreIn early January, Illinois received thousands of applications for adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses. Only 75 of those applications will be granted a license…eventually. Although the Illinois Cannabis Tax and Regulation Act (the Act) required the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to issue the licenses before May 1, 2020, Governor J.B. Pritzker and the IDFPR have delayed their issuance indefinitely due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Read MoreFor years we have been intrigued about the prospect of legal recreational marijuana in Florida—not a particularly far-fetched notion given the overwhelming support for Florida’s 2016 constitutional amendment broadly legalizing medical marijuana in the state.
Read MoreAs 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 MoreThe preliminary reports were great. Cannabis shops were deemed “essential businesses” in several states, and according to The Motley Fool “[d]uring the first few weeks of [March], cannabis sales were soaring and spiked around the middle of the month as fears heightened that people would be confined to their homes in an effort to fight the coronavirus pandemic.”
Read MorePrior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States, it seemed like Missouri voters might get a chance to vote this year on whether to legalize recreational marijuana. That appears to no longer be the case, as efforts to collect the required number of signatures to appear on the ballot were suspended on Wednesday.
Read MoreMuch has changed over the last two months. One thing that hopefully has not is the momentum for marijuana reform at both the state and federal levels. On that front, there is good news emanating from Virginia.
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