‘marijuana’
Comments on the Proposed Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (“CAOA”)
Aug. 27, 2021—This summer, a working group of prominent United States Senators proposed a new bill to legalize marijuana at the federal level. Building on earlier iterations of the MORE Act, the draft Cannabis Administration & Opportunity Act (“CAOA”) constitutes the most comprehensive federal reform proposal to date. A detailed summary of the measure can be found...
New Article on the Hidden Problems Posed by Federal Legalization, and a New Way to Address Them
Aug. 23, 2021—Scott Bloomberg (Maine Law Professor) and I have just written a new article that comprehensively catalogues the problems that might arise if Congress were to suddenly legalize marijuana and thereby unleash the Dormant Commerce Clause (DCC) on the states. (As I’ve explained elsewhere, see here, I think the DCC may already be on the loose...
Maine District Court Issues (Another) Decision Invalidating State Residency Requirement on DCC Grounds
Aug. 20, 2021—The federal district court in Maine just issued another decision in the NPG (aka Wellness Connection) v. Maine litigation challenging the state’s residency requirement for medical marijuana licenses. Last August, the same court issued a preliminary injunction barring the state from enforcing the requirement. My analysis of that decision can be found in UPDATE: Federal Judge...
The PTO has Overstepped its Statutory Authority in Refusing to Register Trademarks for Marijuana
Jun. 23, 2021—The title of this post is the key takeaway of a new article I have recently posted on SSRN: Robert A. Mikos, Unauthorized and Unwise: The Lawful Use Requirement in Trademark Law, 75 Vand. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming January 2022). Here is the abstract: For decades, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has...
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...
New Article on How Biden Administration Should Respond to State Psilocybin Legalization
Jun. 16, 2021—On April 30, 2021, the Illinois Law Review posted a wonderful collection of essays commenting on President Biden’s First 100 Days. Contributors covered a variety of topics. The full collection of essays is available here. Jason Mazzone graciously asked me to lend my voice to the volume, and I decided to advise the Biden Administration...
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...
South Dakota Bar Warns Lawyers that Counseling Marijuana Clients Might be Ethics Violation – Not First State to Say So
Jan. 6, 2021—In fall 2020, South Dakota voters approved measures to legalize both medical and recreational marijuana. See Marijuana Reforms Win Big at the Polls. In January 2021, however, the South Dakota State Bar Association warned attorneys that providing legal services to marijuana businesses would violate the South Dakota Rules of Professional Conduct (i.e., the bar’s code of...
What are the Possible Ramifications of the UN’s Vote to Reschedule Marijuana?
Dec. 3, 2020—On Wednesday, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs narrowly voted to re-schedule cannabis under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961. In particular, the Commission approved a recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961. (The recommendation in full stated:...