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May Competitive Athletes Use Marijuana?
Dec. 13, 2019—The question posed by the title of this post is inspired by news that Major League Baseball (MLB) will no longer test or sanction players for using marijuana. The change is one of several the league and its Players Association recently agreed to make to their 2006 Joint Drug Program (JDP). The joint announcement of...
What are the Harms of CBD Use? Making Sense of the FDA’s Recent Warning
Dec. 2, 2019—In late November 2019, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned the public about consuming cannabidiol (CBD). See FDA, What You Need to Know About CBD. It appears the FDA issued the warning because of booming demand for CBD products. From the FDA’s Announcement: “You may have noticed that cannabidiol (CBD) seems to be...
California Issues (Draft) Formal Ethics Opinion for Attorneys Advising Marijuana Clients
Nov. 14, 2019—It escaped my attention earlier, but it looks like the California Bar Association in June issued guidance for California-licensed attorneys informing them of what legal services they may (and may not) ethically provide to marijuana clients. The 16 page opinion from the State Bar Standing Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct (COPRAC) can be found...
The Evolving Federal Response to State Marijuana Reforms
Nov. 4, 2019—I have just posted a new article discussing how the federal government’s response to state marijuana reforms has evolved over the past 23 years (and through 4 presidential administrations). Readers might be especially interested in the last section of the article, where I discuss how the federal response to state reforms is likely to change...
Does Terminology Matter? “Marijuana”, “Cannabis”, and Public Opinion
Nov. 1, 2019—Over the last several years, there has been a steady shift in the term people use to refer to the drug commonly known as “marijuana.” Namely, people have begun to shun “marijuana” in favor of “cannabis.” The shift in terminology stems at least in part from the belief that the word “marijuana” conjures up various...
USDA Releases Draft of Proposed Hemp Regulations
Oct. 29, 2019—The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has just released its interim rules for the regulation of hemp. The draft rules are designed to fulfill the agency’s responsibility under the 2018 Farm Bill to establish a domestic hemp program. Per the USDA’s document, This interim rule will help expand production and sales of domestic hemp,...
Why We Won’t Learn Much from a New Products Liability Lawsuit Against Marijuana Vape Manufacturers
Oct. 4, 2019—A plaintiff has just filed a products liability lawsuit against several companies that manufacture (or sell) marijuana vape products. The plaintiff blames the Defendants’ products for a lung illness he has recently experienced. The complaint in Wilcoxen v. Canna Brand Solutions, LLC, et al., was filed in Washington State court on September 23, 2019. Several...
Interesting New Student Note on Application of ADA to Marijuana Dispensaries
Sep. 27, 2019—Chris Conrad, a law student at Georgetown, has written a very interesting new paper on an issue that had previously escaped my attention: Whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to marijuana dispensaries (e.g., whether those dispensaries must make themselves accessible to persons with disabilities). The issue is of particular salience to medical marijuana...
How Can / Should Regulators Respond to the Vaping Illness Scare?
Sep. 25, 2019—[Updated 9/27 to reflect new information from the CDC and to add one new observation on the timing of these illnesses.] In the last few months, doubts have surfaced about the safety of vaping, due to a surge in reports of vaping-linked lung illnesses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that, as...
UPDATE: Utah Scraps State Marijuana Distribution Plan
Sep. 17, 2019—As I noted last fall (see here), Utah was set to become the first state in the nation to directly participate in the distribution of marijuana. Under the State’s compromise medical marijuana law, the state planned to buy medical marijuana from licensed private cultivators and then distribute that marijuana to qualified patients through local health departments....