As if there aren’t enough challenges for entrepreneurs and investors in the cannabis industry, the Canna Law Group’s blog discusses yet another one: Investing in U.S. cannabis operations as a foreigner. This is a strategy that has been pursued by at least two publicly-traded companies, Golden Leaf Holdings and Nutritional High, both of which trade on the CSE in Canada. The main risk is deportation:
Though we are not aware of any foreign investor being deported for investing in a business that provides ancillary services or products to the cannabis industry, it is always possible that a zealous prosecutor or the USCIS will seek deportation by asserting that even ancillary businesses violate U.S. law by acting as an accessory to businesses that violate the Federal Controlled Substances Act. The deportation risks are greater for foreign investors who put their money into businesses that grow, process or sell cannabis.
Read Dylan Moore’s “Foreign Investors in the U.S. Cannabis Industry Face Their Own Special Risks”: http://www.cannalawblog.com/foreign-investors-in-the-u-s-cannabis-industry-face-their-own-special-risks/