‘license’
Federal Appeals Court Agrees: Using residency to award commercial marijuana licenses violates the Dormant Commerce Clause
Aug. 19, 2022—On August 17, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a decision in NPG v. Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services. The decision stems from Maine’s appeal of an earlier District Court judgment finding that a provision of the state’s Medical Marijuana Act violated the Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC) because...
Three Federal Courts (So Far) Have Held That State Residency Requirements for Cannabis Licenses (Probably) Violate the Dormant Commerce Clause
Jun. 22, 2021—Federal courts in Michigan and Missouri have just issued rulings in lawsuits challenging those states’ residency requirements for cannabis licenses. Both courts found that the plaintiffs were likely to prevail on the merits of their challenges. In particular, both courts held that using residency to award cannabis licenses probably violated the Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC). The...
Did Federal Judge Give Oklahoma a Free Pass to Violate the Constitution?
Jun. 10, 2021—On June 4, 2021, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Oklahoma’s residency requirement for commercial cannabis licenses. The full decision in Original Investments v. Oklahoma is here: Original Investments v. Oklahoma (W.D. Okla. June 4, 2021) (it’s only about 5 pages long). The suit claimed that Oklahoma’s residency requirement violated the Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC). The...
State Restrictions on Interstate Commerce in Cannabis are Unconstitutional
Mar. 3, 2021—The title of this post is the takeaway of a new law review article I have just posted on SSRN. The article challenges the widely held assumption that legalization states may ban imports of cannabis or otherwise prevent nonresidents from participating in their local cannabis markets. Here is the link to a nearly final draft...
UPDATE: Federal Judge Finds that State Residency Requirements for Marijuana Licensing are Unconstitutional
Oct. 7, 2020—As I blogged in the summer, Maine has become a hotbed of litigation concerning residency requirements for marijuana licenses. Many states (including Maine, for a time) limit the ability of non-residents to own and operate marijuana businesses. The litigation began when a Delaware firm (Wellness Connection) challenged a provision of Maine’s new recreational marijuana law...
DEA subpoena of California BCC licensing records is probably unconstitutional
Jul. 26, 2020—Back in January, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued an administrative subpoena to the California Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), demanding the state agency turn over information regarding a handful of state-licensed cannabis companies. The information includes license applications and shipping manifests from the companies. At the time, the BCC refused to comply, claiming...
Locals Sue, Seeking to Force Maine to Re-instate Residency Requirement for Marijuana Licenses
Jun. 27, 2020—As I blogged about earlier, the state of Maine recently abandoned a residency requirement for obtaining commercial adult use marijuana licenses. See Company Sues Maine for Discriminating Against Non-residents When Licensing Marijuana Businesses and UPDATE: Maine Drops Residency Requirement for Adult-Use Commercial Licenses, Moots Legal Challenge. Residency had been expressly required by the state’s adult use marijuana law (the 2018 Marijuana Legalization Act),...
UPDATE: Maine Drops Residency Requirement for Adult-Use Commercial Licenses, Moots Legal Challenge
May. 13, 2020—A few weeks ago I blogged about an interesting lawsuit challenging Maine’s residency requirement for commercial recreational marijuana licenses. See Company Sues Maine for Discriminating Against Non-residents When Licensing Marijuana Businesses. Brought by a Delaware corporation, the suit claimed that the residency requirement violated the Dormant Commerce Clause doctrine. Although I suggested two reasons why Maine...
Company Sues Maine for Discriminating Against Non-residents When Licensing Marijuana Businesses
Apr. 2, 2020—A Delaware corporation (Wellness Connection) has sued Maine, challenging a provision of that state’s recreational marijuana law that bars out-of-state companies and non-resident investors from obtaining commercial marijuana licenses. The suit was filed on March 20, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. The story has been reported in local papers...
What Makes Illinois’s New Adult-Use Marijuana Law Noteworthy . . .
Jun. 28, 2019—On Tuesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation that made Illinois the 11th state (or 12th state-like jurisdiction, if you count D.C.) to legalize adult-use (aka recreational) marijuana. Illinois legalized medical marijuana back in 2013. The full Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (CRTA) can be found here. It’s long (600 pages), but the state has prepared...