Welcome to MMLG’s Year In Cannabis. This is our three-part look at all that happened in cannabis compliance in 2018. Up first? January-April of 2018, wherein a lot of politicians made surprising (and not-so-surprising appearances.)
January 1, 2018: California Legalizes Recreational Adult-Use Cannabis
The year in cannabis got off to a roaring start on January 1 in California. There was ample buildup for this rightfully momentous day, but the subsequent year has not been a big canna-party for California businesses. In an omen of things to come, Los Angeles had a delay with its initial licensing round. Ongoing rehashing and rewriting of various emergency and non-emergency regulations alike, in addition to the unregulated cannabis market, has take a little luster off the California scene. Still, the country’s largest legal cannabis market is up and running in California and the future only looks brighter.
January 4, 2018: Jeff Sessions “Wisely” Rolls Back The Cole Memo. Everything Went Great.
Jeff Sessions, the former US attorney general, made waves in 2018’s very first few days with his rolling back of the Obama-era Cole memo. Widely derided as an “Old Man Yells At Cloud”-esque bit, Sessions’ determination was dashed on the hard rocks of reality as leaders from legalized states proclaimed “STATES’ RIGHTS, SESSIONS! RETIRE!”
Between the political blow back from both Dems and the GOP and prosecutorial discretion in many states conceding that there were far more pressing criminal matters to pursue, the rollback was only slightly less popular than Jeff Sessions himself ended up being.
February 2018: MMLG Hires Dr. Juli Crockett As Director of Compliance
Dr. Crockett joined the MMLG team in early 2018 and our slacker blogger took until February to get the post up. In any case, we’ve been delighted to have Juli help expand our client services as MMLG has grown in coverage, regions, and services during 2018. More importantly? Our clients have been thrilled to get pointers like this one and this one from Dr. Juli.
February 2018: MedMen Become’s California’s First “Canna-Unicorn” With $1B Valuation
Love ’em or hate ’em, MedMen has routinely made headlines in 2018. That began early in the year as Canada’s Captor Capital injected $30-million worth of investment into MedMen, giving the company a sweet $1B valuation back in February.
February 2018: Cronos Becomes First Cannabis Stock On NASDAQ
Cronos made some big waves last week with Altria’s splashy investment. But as the hipsters like to say: “We were covering Cronos before it was cool.” All the way back in February of 2018, the Canadian cannabis company was gaining the attention of some on Wall Street with their foray into the NASDQ market.
March 2018: Leafly Announces Removal of All Unlicensed Canna-Businesses
In the surest sign yet that California’s legal re-use market was different, Leafly, in compliance with state and municipal regulations, began removing unlicensed businesses from its service. It wasn’t without controversy, several licensed companies that were waiting for licenses from the state or municipalities, contested their removal; but it truly was a wake-up call for many.
March 2018: Hemp Cultivators Have an Ally in Mitch McConnell?!
As the year in cannabis rolled towards the end of March, Mitch McConnell of all people called for hemp cultivation to be expanded back in March. The conservative stalwart and Kentucky native called for loosening the restrictions on cannabis’ more genteel cousin to assist tobacco farmers in his home state. With tobacco’s demand dwindling, some Kentucky farmers are viewing hemp as a new revenue source.
Stay tuned for parts two and three.