In the days of the Armada, a fleet of warships, the scuttlebutt was the rumor or gossip that would spread throughout the ship. Today, Armada Law Corp presents The Scuttlebutt, a daily summery of news articles that people within the cannabis, hemp and plant medicine industries are chatting about along with links to the full articles.
In today’s news:
Bankruptcy court refuses to dismiss marijuana industry debtor Chapter 11 case
#californiacannabis – “In re The Hacienda Company, LLC, No. 2:22-bk-15163, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California (Judge Neil W. Bason) denied a motion to dismiss the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case despite finding that the marijuana-industry debtor was engaged in an ongoing, post-petition violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
The Hacienda court’s refusal to dismiss this marijuana industry case — on two separate occasions — and instead to confirm the Chapter 11 plan, represents a departure from the vast majority of bankruptcy court decisions, which reached the opposite result: dismissing bankruptcy cases based on perceived violations of federal drug laws alone. See, e.g., In re: Way to Grow, Inc., 610 B.R. 338 (D. Colo. 2019); Burton v. Maney (In re Burton), 610 B.R. 633 (9th Cir. BAP 2020).”
Congress May Have a Vision for Psychedelic Regulation in the US
#psychedelics – “The latest attempt to expand the psychedelic world is making its way through Congress. On September 21, 2023, Congressmen Robert Garcia (CA-42) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the “Validating Independence for State Initiatives on Organic Natural Substances Act of 2023”. Aptly titled the VISIONS Act, this legislation would, if enacted, protect legal psilocybin use from federal law enforcement intervention in any state or locality where psilocybin is legally permitted. The language in the Act specifically states that it aims to prohibit any federal funds from being used to prevent any state or local government from implementing their laws to “authorize the use, distribution, sale, possession, research, or cultivation of psilocybin.” This would, in turn, close the significant gap that exists between state licit psychedelic businesses and state authorized medical marijuana businesses with respect to the risk of federal drug law enforcement.”
Read More: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/congress-may-have-a-vision-for-7860694/
Hemp Co. Founders Cop To Conspiracy In $14M Investor Case
#hempindustry – “The co-founders of hemp company CanaFarma each pled guilty Tuesday to two conspiracy counts regarding misappropriation of nearly $1.8 million in investor money, heading off a trial set to start Monday.
Vitaly Fargesen and Igor Palatnik each pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They were arrested in October 2021 in connection with accusations that they lied about CanaFarma’s prospects to raise $14 million.
Representatives for the men were not immediately available for comment.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said Fargesen and Palatnik ran “a sophisticated scheme.”
“They lied about their business, lied to their auditors, and stole millions of dollars of investor funds. Today’s guilty pleas reflect my office’s commitment to prosecuting those who greedily lie to investors to line their own pockets,” Williams said.”
Attn: California Cannabis Operators and Business Owners
California Adds Leave for Reproductive Loss
#californiacannabisindustry – “Senate Bill (SB) 848, scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2024, requires employers with 5 or more employees to provide employees who have worked for at least 30 days with up to five days of reproductive loss leave.
Under the new law, it is unlawful for a covered employer to refuse to grant a covered employee with five days of leave following a reproductive loss. As defined by SB 848, a “reproductive loss” includes a miscarriage, failed surrogacy, stillbirth, unsuccessful “assisted reproduction” (such as artificial insemination or embryo transfer), or failed adoption. In the event an employee suffers more than one reproductive loss within a 12-month period, his/her employer is not obligated to grant a total amount of leave in excess of 20 days within 12 months.”
California Gives Up on the Illegal Cannabis Market: An Update
#californiacannabis – “Yesterday, October 5, 2023, the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) published an announcement with the header: “Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce strategically disrupted illegal market by seizing over $101M worth of unlicensed cannabis products, seized 363% more firearms in Q3 2023”. And the first line of the announcement reads “Focusing on larger targets, the taskforce achieved similar results from previous quarter through serving 35 percent fewer search warrants.” (Italics were in the original, I added the bold.)….
Specifically, Q3 of 2023 say a 1/3 reduction in the amount of search warrants served. Over a 90 day period, 60 warrants were served. That’s 20 per month. For the whole state. During that time, less cannabis was seized, and the retail value went down accordingly. Fewer plants were eradicated. And no money (!) was seized at all.”