The cannabis industry in the United States has experienced rapid growth, with an increasing number of states legalizing the use of marijuana for medical and recreational purposes. As of 2023, nearly half of the U.S....more
It turns out that if you want to know the Department of Justice’s policy on marijuana enforcement, you just have to sue them. In a remarkably candid showing of the DOJ’s current policy concerning marijuana enforcement,...more
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, Virginia Governor Youngkin took action on the retail market bill. The Florida Supreme Court handed down...more
There Has Been Little Movement in Federal Legalization. This has led to cannabis investors and companies to downgrade expectations for federal legalization and focus their strategies on state reform. Federal lawmakers...more
Attorney General Merrick Garland has reiterated that the Department of Justice will not prioritize prosecuting marijuana use, a position that Garland expressed during his confirmation hearings. In remarks in front of a Senate...more
Election Day 2020 is around the corner. Today, cannabis use is legal either for medicinal or adult recreational use (or both) in 35 states. Of those, adult recreational use is legal in 11 states and Washington, D.C....more
Medical marijuana will be on the ballot this November in Mississippi. Initiative 65 proposes to amend the Mississippi Constitution to allow citizens, certified by physicians, to use medical marijuana. For the most part,...more
In the early 1970s, I worked as a petroleum transfer engineer (aka service station attendant). In those halcyon days, we actually pumped the gas for customers, washed their windows and offered to check the oil. I remember one...more
The quasi-legal status of marijuana in today’s United States is raising serious questions about federalism and enforcement for U.S. financial institutions. It is well known that marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I...more
Federal legislators continue to struggle over the growing disconnect between increasing State legalization of the cannabis industry, and the continued illegality of cannabis under federal law....more
The myriad—and conflicting—state, federal and international laws governing the burgeoning marijuana industry have created a complicated legal landscape for financial institutions. In the United States, most states have...more
Since President Trump assumed office in January 2016, there has been substantial concern that the Department of Justice would take a harder line on state-legal cannabis than DOJ’s relatively tolerant approach during the Obama...more
Perform an online search for “is CBD legal?” and you will get a variety of different results. It is a challenging question because CBD can refer to cannabinoids from different sources, and it is often interchanged with other...more
On January 4th, Attorney General Jeff Sessions took a big step backward. He announced that the Department of Justice rescinded the " Cole Memo " and other internal enforcement guidelines, issued under the Obama Administration...more
President Trump piqued the interest of participants in and observers of the marijuana industry when he stated in early June that he would “probably” support recently proposed bipartisan legislation aimed at removing the...more
New York State Encourages Banking for State-Licensed Medical Marijuana Businesses – Whereas a Maine Company Runs Into Trouble, Despite State Law Legalizing Medical Marijuana....more
Entrepreneurs looking to enter Massachusetts’ newly minted recreational marijuana market can sleep a bit easier tonight after a statement from U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling (the top federal prosecutor for the state) regarding...more
ON OCTOBER 2, 2012, kidnappers robbed and abducted a marijuana dispensary owner from his Newport Beach home. They then drove him to the Mojave Desert where they tortured him and demanded that he reveal where he had buried his...more
Earlier this week, U.S. Senators Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and U.S. Representatives David Joyce (R-Ohio) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced the bicameral, bipartisan Strengthening the Tenth...more
Since 1996, when California became the first state to legalize marijuana (at the time, for medicinal purposes only), 28 additional states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana to some extent. Public support...more
With so much happening in the cannabis industry we thought we’d take this time to highlight some of the industry’s most recent happenings. ...more
After months of uncertainty surrounding the enforceability of state marijuana legislation in light of federal prohibitions, President Trump may have offered the legal cannabis industry some solace. Late last week,...more
US Attorneys, state officials and cannabis industry representatives met in Portland, Oregon on February 2 to discuss how to enforcement will change after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced changes to Department of...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there were an unprecedented number of changes each month in 2017—and if January is any...more
As discussed in our January 5th blog post, the Cole Memorandum was rescinded by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on January 4th of this year. The Cole Memorandum had served to formally announce the DOJ’s policy that it would...more