Updates Category
Is CBD Legal Under Federal Law?
Sep. 28, 2018—[Update 12/21 10:45 am: Readers should note that the 2018 Farm Bill has important ramifications of the legality of CBD under federal law. I discuss the Farm Bill and its implications for CBD in this post here. In a nutshell, the Farm Bill makes it legal to possess, manufacture, and distribute CBD extracted from all cannabis plants...
Update: Connecticut Employment Discrimination Case (Noffsinger v. SSC Niantic)
Sep. 24, 2018—A federal judge in Connecticut has issued another notable ruling in Noffsinger v. SSC Niantic Operating Co., LLC. In particular, the judge just granted summary judgment for the plaintiff on her claim that the defendant company violated Connecticut’s medical marijuana law (known as PUMA—the Palliative Use of Marijuana Act) when it rescinded her job offer after she...
Court Dismisses Civil RICO Suit Against Marijuana Supplier, Tees Up Potential Circuit Split
Aug. 27, 2018—[Updated 8/30 to add two new sources with useful background on these lawsuits.] Last week, the US District Court for the District of Oregon dismissed a civil RICO lawsuit brought by a landowner against a neighboring marijuana supplier. The full decision in Ainsworth v. Owenby is available here; page citations below are to the linked...
Visualizing Different State Labeling Requirements
Aug. 17, 2018—Most states that have legalized the commercial supply of marijuana require licensed suppliers to affix special labels to their marijuana products (see book pages 456-462). Among other things, these labels are supposed to inform consumers about what’s in the product (e.g., its THC concentration) and warn consumers about the health risks associated with consuming it...
Recapping 3 Notable Federal Developments Affecting Marijuana Law in 2018
Aug. 2, 2018—The title of this post was the focus of my remarks on a panel at the 2018 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) annual summit in Los Angeles, held at the end of July. The panel drew a packed room, attesting to state lawmakers’ interest in marijuana law and policy. You can watch the full...
UPDATE: The Criminal Case Against a San Diego Marijuana Attorney has Settled
Jul. 28, 2018—Back in September 2017, I blogged about the criminal case against a San Diego marijuana law attorney, Jessica McElfresh, and her client, Med West. The case began in January 2016, when San Diego officials raided Med West, a medical marijuana dispensary. The county suspected Med West had been illegally manufacturing concentrated cannabis oil. But the...
Only One State Has Not Yet Legalized Marijuana in Some Form . . .
Jul. 16, 2018—While updating some of the charts and figures in my book, I discovered that, since early May, 2018, only one state in the nation has not yet legalized marijuana in some form for at least medical purposes. I won’t keep you waiting: it’s Idaho. At the start of the year, Idaho had some company. Kansas...
New York State Department of Health Releases Report on Legalization
Jul. 13, 2018—The New York Department of Health just released its report on legalization of marijuana in the empire state. The report had been commissioned by Gov. Andrew Cuomo back in January, 2018. The full report can be found here. The news media has previously discussed some contents of the report, but this is the first time the...
UPDATE: Maine Supreme Court Holds State Worker Compensation Law Preempted
Jun. 28, 2018—Last week the Maine Supreme Court issued its decision in Bourgoin v. Twin Rivers. For the full opinion, see here. I blogged about the case back in October: see Cases to Watch: Bourgoin v. Twin Rivers and Workers’ Compensation. In this post, I’ll briefly describe the court’s recent holding and then provide a few thoughts...
Two New Articles on the International Law Ramifications of State Marijuana Reforms
Jun. 9, 2018—State marijuana reforms raise a host of nettlesome–and seldom discussed–questions about United States compliance with and the ultimate fate of international drug control treaties. Fortunately, two new articles focus on those questions and begin to fill the gap in the literature. The first is by Brian Blumenfed, an attorney and researcher: Pacta Sunt Servanda: State Legalization of Marijuana...