Due to some interesting developments in health science, the future of the industrial hemp industry may be in the hands of the DEA once again.
For the first time ever, the FDA approved a drug derived from marijuana. The active ingredient in Epidolex, which in clinical trials reduced the frequency of seizures in people with…
On June 13, the U.S. Tax Court issued Tax Court Memo 2018-83, Alterman and Gibson v. Comm’r. Based on the way this case is being reported in the trade press, one might think that this decision portends doom and gloom for taxpayers in the cannabis industry. Such fears are not justified for anyone…
Right on schedule, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (i.e., the Senate’s version of the Farm Bill) was announced on Friday, and brings with it some good news for the U.S. hemp industry. As we predicted last month, hemp supporters in the Senate worked successfully to include the Hemp Farming Act (the “Act”) in…
Last month, we wrote about draft legislation out of the U.S. Senate that aimed to end the tension between the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and state laws legalizing cannabis. Today, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced the excellently-named Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act, which amends the CSA to…
Citing an unmanageable backlog of recreational marijuana license applications and difficulty meeting its responsibilities to existing licensees, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) announced today that it will “pause” review of new recreational license applications effective June 15, 2018. The OLCC will also reallocate staff from licensing review to compliance and enforcement, focusing on the…
Earlier this year, we outlined a potential argument concerning hemp-derived CBD oil and its status under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Our argument focused on the CSA’s definition of the term “marihuana,” which excludes mature stalks, oil or cake made from seeds from the list of controlled substances. Last week, the DEA agreed and issued…
Lost in the rubble left by last week’s noisy collapse of H.R. 2 (the Agriculture and Nutrition Act, commonly known as the Farm Bill) are some significant developments in the United States’ progress towards legalizing the cultivation of industrial hemp. Industrial hemp is the same species as its THC-laden cousin marijuana, Cannabis Sativa L., but…
Much has recently been discussed about the potential value to the cannabis industry of last Monday’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning states authorizing sports betting. Murphy v. NCAA, No. 16-476 (U.S., May 14, 2018). For example, see “The Implications of Murphy v. NCAA for State Marijuana Reforms,” authored by…
If you are involved in the marijuana industry in Oregon, and haven’t yet seen today’s pronouncement from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, then you should stop what you are doing and listen up: the Feds will not continue to look the other way with respect to certain categories of crimes illegal …
Last week, Tom Angell from the Marijuana Movement reported on bipartisan U.S. Senate legislation. He noted the legislation would end the federal war on cannabis to exempt cannabis-related activities under federal law. We obtained a draft of this legislation and there are several noteworthy items.
280E Fix
The draft bill notes that conduct in compliance…