[author: Susan Ryan]

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

Louisiana is expanding medical marijuana, and the United Nations may reschedule cannabis. Meanwhile, PetSmart faces a lawsuit over pet CBD. MedMen has campaign finance problems, and the 9th Circuit looks at taxes.

LOUISIANA

The Louisiana legislature passed two cannabis reform bills this week. One allows doctors to decide whether to prescribe medical marijuana to patients. The other ensures the state will not prohibit or discourage banks and credit unions from providing financial services to legitimate cannabis businesses. Supporters expect the governor to sign both bills.

UNITED NATIONS

Marijuana is currently classified as both a Schedule IV drug and a Schedule I drug on the international level. Schedule IV is analogous to Schedule I in the United States. Last year, the WHO recommended relisting marijuana as a Schedule I drug only. Member states pushed back on that recommendation. The full United Nations is scheduled to vote on revising cannabis policy in December, assuming that COVID-19 doesn’t delay the vote.

CBD FOR PETS

As we reported earlier, PetSmart is now selling CBD oil for pets. Well, things have not been going well. Two lawsuits filed in federal court in Florida allege that the products did not perform as advertised. They also note that the products cannot be sold because they have not been approved by the FDA.

CAMPAIGN DONATIONS

Did MedMen executives give illegal campaign contributions to Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak? The Secretary of State is trying to find an answer to that question. The allegations were made in 2019, as part of a lawsuit in California. The office only recently learned of them, when they were made public in a news article this past weekend.

TAX LITIGATION

Cannabis industry groups urged the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down Section 280E of the tax code as unconstitutional this week. They filed an amicus brief in support of Harborside Health Center’s appeal of a U.S. Tax Court ruling.

AND FINALLY

Did Jesus smoke pot? Biblical scholars may have a new question to ponder. A recently published article reports that residue found at the Judahite Shrine of Arad in Israel contains THC, CBD, and CBN.

Stay safe and be well everyone – we’ll see you next week!