Alana M. Hans-Cohen, Esq.
Cannabis Attorney Licensed in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Colorado, and WashingtonAssistant General Counsel, New York State Office of Cannabis Managment
Alana Hans-Cohen is a one-woman repository of legal knowledge, rap lyrics, and bad puns. Alana is a cannabis attorney who is licensed in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington State, Colorado, and Illinois. Alana is a self-proclaimed “cannabis nerd,” who focuses on cannabis law and policy, and how this new, highly regulated industry intersects business, real estate, government, and public policy. Alana currently serves as Assistant Counsel at the New York State Office of Cannabis Management ("OCM"), where she provides comprehensive legal counsel to the Office, ensuring that the state's cannabis policies and regulations are effectively developed, implemented, and enforced. Her expertise in regulatory compliance is instrumental in fostering a legal framework that ensures the cannabis industry in New York operates within the highest standards and promotes equity, inclusion, and economic growth within the state.In addition to her role at the OCM, Alana is an adjunct professor at Medgar Evers College, the first City University of New York (CUNY) campus to offer a cannabis degree program. She teaches two courses as part of the bachelor’s degree in cannabis science: The Business of Cannabis and Retail Dispensary Standard Operating Procedures. Her involvement in academia underscores her commitment to education and the professional development of future leaders in the cannabis industry.Before joining the Office of Cannabis Management, Alana spent four years in private practice, where she represented minority, women, disabled-veteran, and social equity businesses, at each level of the cannabis supply chain, including cultivators, manufacturers, distributors, and dispensaries, as well as cannabis industry investors.Alana is committed to using her legal acumen to support initiatives that promote inclusivity within the cannabis industry. Alana’s true passion lies in advocating for social equity in the cannabis industry, and her professional and personal philosophy includes giving back in ways that make a meaningful difference to the local and global communities to which she dedicates her advocacy. She has worked closely with stakeholders across the state to ensure that New York's cannabis market is accessible and fair, particularly for communities disproportionately impacted by previous cannabis prohibitions.
Alana always says it like it is, in a voice that’s not hard to hear and she might have speeds other than fast forward, but no one is sure. Up for anything, filled with opinions she is happy to share, Alana is basically a good vibe.Laid back but certainly not slow moving, Alana is your quintessentially millennial NYC professional. Disinclined to accept that anyone should be asleep if she’s not, maybe Alana never actually sleeps. No one really knows. If there’s one thing for which Alana is famous, apart from her mad skills and taste in music, it is for belying the conventional belief that lawyers are boring. She puts an exclamation mark on that sentence.• Providing to public sector stakeholders involved in legislation, rule-making, regulation and municipal decision making relevant guidance from established cannabis-friendly states, cannabis industry operators, advocates, and thought leaders.• Educating and providing actionable perspectives to state government on the “how” of the development of legal access to cannabis at the state and local levels.-Assistant Counsel, New York State Office of Cannabis Management
-Chair, New York City Bar Association, Cannabis, Drugs, and the Law Committee
-Director, Cannabis Advisory GroupPreviously in Private Practice:• From start-up to exit strategy, representing businesses and individuals at each level of the cannabis supply chain, including state-licensed adult-use cannabis, medical cannabis and hemp cultivators, manufacturers, distributors, and dispensaries, whether vertically integrated or operating as standalone businesses, as well as investors in those businesses.• Advising a full range of vendors, plant-touching and ancillary, which supply their products and services to the cannabis industry, such as bio-mass, technology, advertising, social media, consumption products and security companies on the considerations pertinent to entering into the cannabis space.• Assisting cannabis-related clients in understanding and assessing the federal and state regulatory framework for cannabis; applications for licenses to operate and related administrative matters; commercial litigation; negotiating and documenting investments, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions; conducting due diligence on the targets of such transactions; federal, state and local tax issues; day-to-day regulatory advice and general business counsel; and labor and employment, including workplace training and litigating workplace claims.
