Marijuana Lawyers Denver, Colorado
Marijuana attorneys assist with the regulatory burden of marijuana operations in Colorado.
Since marijuana is legal in Colorado, start-up business entities whose mission involves the production, sale, or delivery of marijuana in Denver should speak with legal counsel to make certain the business plan aligns with the scope of the law specific to the focus of their individual new business plan. Compared to other states, Colorado has a seasoned marijuana market separated between “recreational marijuana establishments” and “medical marijuana dispensaries.”
There are rules in Colorado that require state regulated dispensaries to be fully licensed and inspected. Medical dispensaries may not be authorized to sell recreational marijuana and recreational dispensaries may not be licensed to sell medical marijuana. If you are confused about products you can legally sell at a marijuana business, the Denver Colorado marijuana law firm of Semler & Associates may be able to answer questions and address concerns about your business structure and associated risks.
Cannabis and marijuana.
New business owners should be familiar with the differences between Cannabis and marijuana and how it might impact legal production and sales. Cannabis represents a general classification of marijuana and hemp plants, while marijuana represents specific species. Marijuana is the only plant that contains high levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the cannabinoid capable of getting you high. Marijuana also contains Cannabidiol (CBD), a known cannabinoid that won’t get you as high but has potential beneficial effects like pain relief and anxiety reduction.
Business plan:
- Decide if you want to set up a full service operation, open a medical dispensary, sell recreational marijuana, or grow marijuana.
- The fee for licensure applications for growers, processors, and dispensaries is $2,500 per each facility and per each license type in Colorado.
- Cannabis transporter is a business intending to transport medical marijuana between licensed facilities, and needs a transporter license,
- Cannabis distributors are required to track products and test for quality and need a distributor license,
- Cannabis tester is a laboratory that tests medical marijuana products for quality and potency and needs tester license.
- Research and understand state and federal regulations impact on each part of your business plan.
- Costs of start-up and yielding a profit,
- Marketing campaign to potential customers,
- Competitor analysis for geographic zone,
- Suppliers of products,
- Hiring business lawyers, accountants, and marketing personnel,
- Capital investment campaign,
- Contract cannabis products manufacturers, and cultivators.
- Decide upon a business type, or corporate structure that may include limited liability corporations, S corporations, business partnerships and sole proprietorships, to name a few. Each type has specific liabilities and benefits.
Value of a Denver Colorado marijuana business lawyer.
Hire a skilled Denver marijuana business law attorney to prepare and review Colorado licensure documents, review contracts with vendors, landlords, and other entities that are involved in business activities, and prepare related employment contracts and non-compete and disclosure agreements. Legal counsel can also play a part in developing compliance and risk management protocols encompassing state and federal guidelines.
- Mergers and Acquisitions. Business growth and downsizing involve the purchase of a competitor, or a sale to a competitor and contracts and intentions can be delicate without the assistance of an objective knowledgeable voice of a business attorney.
- Real estate and property disputes. If a business owns, or leases its property, it may need the assistance of business lawyers to negotiate sales, new leases and complex real estate and tenant laws.
- Business valuation. When a business owner decides to sell, they must figure out worth and the current market price based on annual revenue, earnings, and physical assets, including real estate and equipment minus any debt. If intellectual property is connected to the business, such as patents or other partnerships, that value must be figured in as well. A Denver marijuana business attorney can be quite helpful.
Customers.
Individuals can only smoke, eat, vaporize, or dab cannabis, or marijuana in a private residence for safety reasons. If a person is caught smoking marijuana in public, there may be civil, and/or criminal penalties attached to that activity. Marijuana attorneys in Denver Colorado can assist businesses as they provide legal use guidelines to their customers, including the legal sale of “marijuana accessories.”
Colorado 18-18-428 C.R.S. specifically excludes “marijuana accessories” from the definition of drug paraphernalia. The Colorado constitution defines “marijuana accessories” as “equipment, products, or materials of any kind which are used, intended for use, or designed for use in planting, propagating, cultivating, growing, harvesting, composting, manufacturing, compounding, converting, producing, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, storing, vaporizing, or containing marijuana, or for ingesting, inhaling, or otherwise introducing marijuana into the human body.”
Seek legal counsel.
Hiring a Denver marijuana law firm like Semler & Associates to review business start-up documents to ascertain if a marijuana operation is state approved, or to defend any possible charges of illegal marijuana sales in Colorado may be a prudent decision for business owners facing legal consequence related to illegal marijuana use and sale, or licensure infractions at their marijuana business entity.
Semler & Associates P.C.
1756 Gilpin Street
Denver, CO 80218
Phone: 303.839.1680
Fax: 303.839.1642
Sources.
https://sbg.colorado.gov/med-licensed-facilities
https://sbg.colorado.gov/med-new-regulated-marijuana-business-license-application
https://www.metrc.com/colorado
https://sbg.colorado.gov/sites/sbg/files/documents/DR%208548e%20RMB%20App%202021%20edit.pdf
