Thanks to Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal (MSPBJ) for interviewing me about my practice representing Minnesota entrepreneurs and small businesses in setting up cannabis businesses in compliance with changing laws!
An excerpt, since it's paywall-protected:
What are some of the biggest legal challenges cannabis entrepreneurs face? So now we have legal cannabis businesses, selling hemp-derived products under Minnesota law and working to set up businesses that are going to apply for licenses to participate in the full adult-use market, and they need good counsel to help them do that, just like all entrepreneurs do. But starting a cannabis small business is small business on hard mode, because it's changing all the time.
For instance, people that started in hemp-derived [THC products], it was originally legal in 2022, but additional regulation from Minnesota came in 2023. And then, some of those legal requirements become effective at different times. We also have interpretations by regulators as we move forward, so this is more than doing a business in most industries, this is one in which you have to be nimble and have to stay on top of the changes that are happening from a regulatory perspective, and from a consumer demand perspective.
It's also harder to get money to start these businesses, correct? Yes. Access to capital is really hard in cannabis, and that's because of the federal illegality. You can't get small-business administration loans, because those are federal, and you also can't get a lot of other kinds of normal bank financing that small businesses rely on to survive. But, I'm a securities lawyer, so I can help clients raise money in compliance with securities law.
How is business? I think there are a lot of businesses that are really excited to participate in the legal cannabis industry. Whether it's something that they've been participating in in the black market, and now they're interested in going legit, or they participated with certain other states and they're looking to use their expertise in Minnesota, or it's a passion of theirs and they see the economic opportunity here. People are looking for guidance, and for resources, and for help, and that's what I spend all day, every day doing. It's been a phenomenal year, and the demand has been incredible.
#mncannabis #mncannnabislaw #weedladylawyer North Star Law Group PLLC
Cannabis, Psychedelics & Healthcare Attorney / Falcon Rappaport & Berkman LLP / Hofstra Law School Professor / Executive Board Member, The JUSTÜS Foundation
9moI'm teaching an outstanding group of law students right now at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. My class is officially entitled "The Law and Business of Marijuana" and is on Wednesday's from 4:10 - 6pm (although we officially start at 4:20pm).