‘Colorado’
New Study of Diversity and Opportunity in Denver’s Marijuana Industry
Jun. 9, 2020—In June 2020, the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses released a new report on opportunity in the Denver area marijuana industry. The full Cannabis Business and Employment Opportunity Study is available here. Using a survey of participants in the local marijuana industry, the report seeks to identify the extent to which different factors –...
The Collision Between Federal Immigration Law and State Marijuana Reforms
Apr. 22, 2019—In mid-April, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued new guidance clarifying the immigration consequences of state marijuana reforms. The USCIS guidance can be found in Chapter 5 of the USCIS Policy Manual. The guidance was prompted by recent cases in which USCIS has denied the citizenship applications of immigrants, solely because those immigrants acknowledged...
UPDATE: Plaintiff Loses Colorado RICO Lawsuit (Safe Streets)
Nov. 1, 2018—As reported by various new outlets (see links below), the jury in the Safe Streets case (now known as Reilly v. 6480 Pickney, LLC) rejected the plaintiff-landowners’ civil RICO claims against a state-licensed marijuana supplier. I discuss the plaintiffs’ claims in an earlier post here and in the book (pages 403-406). Although the defendant (and...
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...
Analysis of the Warren-Gardner STATES Act
Jun. 7, 2018—[Update 6/8: I redrafted some of the language below for clarity and conciseness.] On June 7, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D MA) and Cory Gardner (R CO) formally introduced legislation to eliminate much of the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws. A full copy of the proposed legislation, called the “Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through...
The Looping Problem in Marijuana Sales
May. 9, 2018—States commonly limit the quantity of marijuana that a licensed supplier may sell to a consumer (see book pages 462-463). For example, Colorado’s Retail Marijuana Code Rule 402 provides that “A Retail Marijuana Store and its employees are prohibited from Transferring more than one ounce of [marijuana] . . . in a single transaction to...
Jeff Sessions Rescinds Obama-Era Enforcement Guidance: Five Observations
Jan. 5, 2018—[Post has been updated and revised again to add new links: Jan. 12, 2018] On January 4, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions formally rescinded enforcement guidance that had been issued by the Obama Administration DOJ as far back as 2009. To simplify somewhat, that guidance had urged United States Attorneys not to enforce the federal...
Do (Should) State Marijuana Reforms Apply Retroactively?
Dec. 2, 2017—Suppose that Danica violates her state’s marijuana prohibition. If the state later repeals that prohibition, does (and should) the repeal apply retroactively to Danica’s offense? To date, most states have failed to explicitly address this question. But California and Colorado have recently begun offering relief for some marijuana offenses that pre-date their respective reforms. California’s...
California’s Public Education Campaign
Oct. 20, 2017—When states legalize marijuana for adults, they commonly launch campaigns to educate the public on how to use the drug safely. The book discusses some examples drawn from early adopters, like Colorado’s “Good to Know” campaign (see pages 232-35 and 500, n.3). Now California is getting in on the act. Last month the state department...
Federal appeals court allows private civil RICO to proceed against state-licensed marijuana grower (Safe Streets)
Jul. 25, 2017—In Safe Streets Alliance v. Hickenlooper (June 2017), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit reversed the dismissal of a civil RICO lawsuit brought by a private plaintiff against a Colorado licensed marijuana cultivator. The original RICO suit – and the district court’s decision dismissing it – is discussed in the book at...