Today, the Washington Hemp Law passed out of the Executive Committee on Commerce and Gaming with an industry-supported amendment regarding legal human consumption of hemp and hemp-derived products such as CBD. The amended language of the bill represents a significant step forward for the State of Washington in the emerging hemp industry.

Lane Powell Cannabis

Carriers have long relied on the ability to cross state lines without concern that state laws may impede or end their journey. The Supreme Court’s Dormant Commerce Clause jurisprudence (including the landmark trucking case Bibb v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc., 359 U.S. 520 (1959)), in combination with the preemptive effect of federal statutes and

The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill signaled a bright future for the U.S. hemp industry, authorizing individual states and the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to formulate regulatory plans permitting commercial hemp production. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, recently testified that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) is working to finalize regulations in time for

On March 7, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) introduced into the 116th Congress H.R. 1595, the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019. The Act will, in spite of the federal Controlled Substances Act’s scheduling of marijuana, prohibit the federal banking regulators from taking actions against banks that are providing services to cannabis

As any farmer knows, planting season waits for no one. Washington state lawmakers are showing they understand this as well.

While other states have moved more aggressively to encourage commercial hemp, Washington’s total hemp crop in 2018 was less than 150 acres, all grown by the Confederated Colville tribes northwest of Spokane. Lawmakers in Olympia

While the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s regulatory oversight, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to oversee foods, drugs or cosmetics that contain hemp or hemp products, the most popular of which is currently CBD. Meanwhile, states, farmers and other interested parties are clamoring for guidance on hemp commercialization,

In a unanimous decision this month, the Supreme Court limited the scope of civil asset forfeiture, the controversial legal process whereby law enforcement officers can seize property they suspect was involved in illegal activities. In this post, we will discuss how the recent decision in Timbs v. Indiana affects a long-time cannabis industry boogeyman.

Civil

Concerning news out of Idaho, where the U.S. District Court in Idaho delivered some bad news to the owners of the contents of a tractor trailer recently seized by the Idaho State  Police. The trailer contained nearly 7,000 pounds of Cannabis sativa en route from Oregon to Colorado. Seizures of outbound Oregon marijuana are an