Cannabis - Navigating opportunities in an opening market

Cannabis remains a controlled substance in most jurisdictions, but the demand for medicinal, wellbeing, and recreational cannabis products and their derivatives is undeniable. The transformative potential of what is emerging, as governments consider the public health and tax benefits, reaches far beyond the simple growing and selling of the plant, as cannabis promises to upend the status quo in a number of industries.

Entrenched players in the food and drink, energy, tobacco, and pharmaceutical sectors are all trying to anticipate this growing market. Now executives across industries as diverse as cosmetics and pet food are considering how cannabis is going to reshape their markets and if they should acquire, partner, or compete with these new entrants.

One thing is clear, they cannot be ignored, and this industry is primed for growth. DLA Piper is a leading participant in the nascent cannabis industry; from start-up to private and public fundraisings, acquisition and post-merger, we are there to advise and help clients navigate uncertain waters. We have observed a number of divergent streams materialising from the shifting tectonic plates of cannabis regulation across the globe.

Uncertainty and service gaps are appearing as the forces of innovation and disruption clash with the variant maturity speeds of global regimes. DLA Piper’s team covers the range of corporate, intellectual property, technology, and R&D, employment, regulatory (importantly, both life sciences and financial), and litigation services, and we are acting across every segment of pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, wellness, and medical sectors around the globe.

The practice’s provision of legal services is limited to those clients whose conduct is legal in the jurisdiction in question. High-growth industries with the breadth and scope of where cannabis can pervade come with an enormous regulatory burden.

Smart firms must have a realistic plan to deal with the compliance dragnet that inevitably follows from a lack of geographical harmonisation. Smarter firms scan the horizon and plan ahead of it, and that’s where DLA Piper can help.

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