Skip to main content

Colorado Lawmakers Approve Marijuana Bill To Attract Outside Investors

Colorado legislators passed a bill to open the state’s $1.5 billion-a-year cannabis industry to outside investors and capital such as publicly held companies and large venture funds.

The measure, which comes a year after former Gov. John Hickenlooper rejected similar legislation, was approved by the Senate after previously being passed by the House, and now goes to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature. Polis has expressed support for the bill.

Andy Williams, co-founder and newly appointed CEO of Denver-based cannabis consultancy Medicine Man Technologies, lauded the bill’s passage, saying it will help drive future growth.

“We now have the momentum behind us to accelerate the closing of our two acquisitions, (cannabis research firm) MedPharm Holdings and Medicine Man Denver,” he said in a statement.

The bill:

  • Repeals regulations that cap the number of out-of-state owners to 15 people, provisions that have blocked publicly traded companies and many venture capital funds from participating in the market.
  • Allows publicly traded companies to hold a Colorado marijuana license.
  • Creates two new kinds of ownership licenses. One license would be for individuals who own at least a 10% stake in a cannabis licensed firm; the other would be for passive investors who own less than a 10% interest.

The legislation also puts in place several safeguards, including a requirement that publicly traded businesses or controlling investors receive a finding of “suitability” from state regulators.

After Hickenlooper’s veto last year, local cannabis companies threatened to leave Colorado, saying their growth opportunities were too limited.

Some, however, fear the newly approved measure will make it more difficult for smaller enterprises to compete.

Original Article Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/colorado-approves-marijuana-bill-to-attract-outside-investors/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Feds Hire Hazmat Firm For Marijuana Eradication Training

An ambitious campaign to decriminalize psychedelics in Washington, D.C., is one step closer to placing their measure on the November ballot with the formal submission of tens of thousands of voter signatures. Organizers have been scrambling for weeks to collect enough signatures from D.C. voters by Monday’s deadline amid historically difficult circumstances: a global pandemic, months of stay-at-home orders and protests over racism and police violence that filled the streets of the nation’s capital. But with the help of innovative signature-gathering techniques and allies flown in from across the country, advocates said they had successfully submitted upwards of 35,000 signatures—more than enough to qualify the initiative. If approved by voters, Initiative 81 would make enforcement of laws against plant- and fungus-based psychedelics among the “lowest law enforcement priorities” for the Metropolitan Police Department. It would not, however, legalize or reduce penalties for the substa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Crime Rates Drop After Marijuana Dispensaries Open Nearby, Study Finds

Whether you’re partnered up or riding solo, marijuana can enhance the longevity, frequency and quality of sexual pleasure, reports a new survey out on Tuesday. Though a number of recent scientific studies have found consuming cannabis can improve bedroom activities for men and women , a report from Lioness, the makers of the world’s first smart vibrator, and cannabis delivery service Eaze offers a more in-depth look at how the substance can affect people’s sex lives. “Cannabis can enhance your orgasms no matter who you are,” the report states. “While a satisfying sex life is the result of many variables, cannabis can increase the length, frequency of, and quality of your orgasms and pleasure sessions whether you’re single or married, solo or with a partner, young adult or silver fox.” The report is the result of an online survey shared with 432 Lioness newsletter subscribers in North America between June 23 and July 1. Researchers also included perspective from 19 Lioness users who...
Post a Comment
Read more

All 50 State Banking Associations Urge Congress To Pass Marijuana Financial Services Bill

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced on Thursday that he’s running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. While the mayor was initially opposed to legalization, he made several attempts to reduce cannabis-related arrests in the city, but the policy changes never ended up achieving a key desired outcome of reducing racial disparities in marijuana enforcement. De Blasio finally came out in support of legalization in 2018, just days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) reversed his own longtime opposition. Here’s a detailed look at where de Blasio stands on marijuana. Legislation And Policy Actions One of the first actions de Blasio took to change the city’s marijuana policies was to instruct the New York Police Department (NYPD) to issue summons for individuals caught possessing 25 grams or less of cannabis in lieu of making arrests, with certain exceptions. That policy took effect in November 2014. He campaigned on the reform promise, stating that marijuana convictio...
Post a Comment
Read more