The Sunshine State has a marijuana transparency problem.
A cannabis investor and medical marijuana patient advocates are suing the state after regulators allegedly failed to provide public records and approved a cannabis investment firm’s request to own more licenses than allowed under state law, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit is the latest development in the legal saga of cannabis investment firm Gotham Green Partners’ bid to wrest control of multistate marijuana company iAnthus from investors like Michael Weisser, a plaintiff in the suit.
The latest legal dispute comes after the Ontario Superior Court of Justiceapproved a proposed recapitalization transaction for Gotham Green to take control of iAnthus in 2021 after the latter defaulted on a loan. The proposal requires regulatory approvals from U.S. states, many of which have cross-ownership restrictions to tamp down monopolies in the industry.
Florida’s medical marijuana laws prohibit an individual or entity from “directly or indirectly” having an ownership stake of greater than 5 percent in more than one medical marijuana licensee.
“This is such a blatant violation of the regulations, it’s unbelievable,” Weisser said in an interview. “[The regulators] just want to sweep it under the table.”
Weisser has been fighting a decision by Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU) to grant a variance to Gotham Green, allowing it to own more than 5 percent of two state-licensed medical marijuana companies: MedMen and iAnthus. [Read More @ Politico.com]
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