‘race’
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 –...
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...
UPDATE: State Judge Holds Use of Race in Ohio Medical Marijuana Licensing Unconstitutional
Nov. 20, 2018—A state trial judge has just held that Ohio’s use of racial preferences in the award of state medical marijuana cultivation licenses violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (and the Ohio state constitution). The full decision in PharmaCann Ohio, LLC v. Ohio Department of Commerce can be found at Pharmacann Ohio v....
Two Interesting Developments in Maryland’s Medical Marijuana Law
Apr. 12, 2018—The Maryland legislature just passed a bill amending the state’s medical marijuana law. The Governor is expected to sign the legislation, which can be viewed here. Two particular changes struck me as noteworthy: 1. First, the bill adopts new—and carefully designed—measures to address racial disparities in the state-licensed commercial marijuana industry. As I discuss in...
Suit Challenging Maryland’s Refusal to Use Racial Preferences in Licensing Has Been Settled
Feb. 28, 2018—When Maryland’s legislature passed a medical marijuana law in spring 2013, it instructed state regulators to consider race in awarding a limited number of licenses to cultivate and distribute marijuana (see page 454 n.1 of the book). In 2015, however, the state’s licensing commission abandoned those preferences, apparently due to concerns that racial preferences might...
Panel Discussion of The Promise and Pitfalls of the Marijuana Justice Act
Jan. 31, 2018—On January 3, 2018, I had the pleasure of moderating a vibrant panel discussion on race and marijuana law at the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) annual conference in San Diego. I thoroughly enjoyed the panel, which discussed a broad range of topics, including the Marijuana Justice Act proposed by Senator Cory Booker (discussed...
New Study Defends Constitutionality of Racial / Gender Preferences in the Award of State Marijuana Licenses
Jan. 18, 2018—At least two states (Maryland and Ohio) have attempted to use racial preferences in the award of their commercial marijuana licenses. However, as discussed in the book, Maryland’s licensing board abandoned that state’s preferences in 2015 after a Deputy State Attorney General wrote a brief letter suggesting the preferences would likely violate the Equal Protection...
Cases to Watch: Applicant Sues to Block Ohio from Using Racial Preferences in the Award of Commercial Marijuana Licenses
Dec. 15, 2017—In the book, I discuss the lack of racial diversity in the state-licensed commercial marijuana industry, as well as the measures states have adopted to boost minority participation in that industry (pages 454, 520-25). There are several steps states could take to improve diversity, but one of the most direct is to employ some form...
My Reactions to Cory Booker’s Marijuana Justice Act
Aug. 4, 2017—Senator Cory Booker (D NJ) has introduced a proposal to repeal the federal marijuana ban. In a nutshell, Booker’s Marijuana Justice Act would exempt marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. I believe Booker’s proposal to is incomplete (and therefore, both unwise and politically unpalatable) because it fails to offer any replacement for prohibition. I develop...