Canna Law Blog

MAY 16, 2024

Today is another historic day in the history of cannabis control and regulation. In a much anticipated announcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to reschedule marijuana, from Controlled Substances Act (CSA) schedule I to schedule III (the “Proposed Rule”). Instead we’ll have to wait.

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Canna Law Blog

JULY 8, 2024

The internet is a badlands of misinformation on cannabis law and policy. Instead, I’d like to highlight a few reliable sources for you , a discerning consumer of cannabis legal news and analysis. I’m sure I’ll miss a few deserving sources as we go; if you find yourself in that camp, I promise it wasn’t intentional.

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Canna Law Blog

MAY 28, 2024

California ‘s cannabis industry suffers from a seemingly unending list of problems: high taxes, prohibitionist cities, a related lack of retail licenses and oversupply of non-retail licenses, a monster illegal market with no end in sight , burdensome and often senseless regulations, and so on.

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Canna Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023

HHS officially recommended that marijuana be rescheduled from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The HHS news means that the country’s top health agency has finally conceded that cannabis has medical value, and isn’t a drug of abuse on par with fentanyl or heroin.

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Canna Law Blog

AUGUST 5, 2024

Leasing to California Cannabis Tenants Leasing commercial real estate to a cannabis business in California can be a great opportunity for the right lessor, but it comes with significant risks. It’s important for lessors to understand these risks before entering into a lease with a cannabis business.

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Compliance Compliance Cannabis Business 94

Canna Law Blog

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Cannabis companies that need more money than they can generate through sales generally have two options : borrow money (debt) or solicit investments (equity). I recently predicted that equity investment will reignite when cannabis is rescheduled. This may change if cannabis is rescheduled, but probably not too much.

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Canna Law Blog

DECEMBER 19, 2024

Welcome the ninth annual State of the State post on Oregon cannabis. As far as what people are actually buying at OLCC shops: 2% of purchases are for usable marijuana 25% are extracts/concentrates 7% are edibles/tinctures 10% are inhalable product with non-cannabis additives 4% is other; and 6% is industrial hemp commodity products.

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Canna Law Blog

AUGUST 31, 2020

I’ve been practicing corporate, transactional, and regulatory law in the marijuana industry for going on 10 years now. I’ve never understood exactly why folks get excited about, or even remotely interested, when various lifetime politicians in Congress push bills on the federal legalization/rescheduling of marijuana.

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Canna Law Blog

AUGUST 21, 2020

Constitution, criminalize medical cannabis without exception, even for patients who require its daily administration to live? 812(b)(1)), is the classification of cannabis so irrational that it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? Likely for pragmatic and strategic reasons.

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Canna Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

People in the cannabis industry know that marijuana is federally classified as a schedule I controlled substance. Aside from the very serious criminal aspects of the classification, the schedule I classification means that trying to enforce a contract involving cannabis in federal court is practically a non-starter. Opinion here ).

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Canna Law Blog

MAY 3, 2023

A “subpoena” is used in cannabis litigation (or any litigation) when third-party witnesses or documents become necessary for a lawsuit. Below is a primer on what to do as a recipient of one: What is a subpoena? Over the years, we’ve seen the need for subpoenas come up in a variety of contexts.

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Compliance Compliance Cannabis Topical 72

Canna Law Blog

AUGUST 31, 2023

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially recommended that marijuana be rescheduled, from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Rescheduling is not the best possible outcome , however. Huge news yesterday. Kudos to him and others who shared that view. It’s really not.

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Canna Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommended rescheduling cannabis from schedule I to III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). My colleagues already covered various implications of the proposed cannabis rescheduling (see here and here ). Some stage-setting is in order.

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DEA Cannabis Programs Business 121

Canna Law Blog

MAY 1, 2024

Yesterday, some big news dropped that the cannabis industry has anticipated since last summer. I take issue with some of the headlines , so here’s mine: “DEA Reportedly Agrees to Initiate Proposed Rulemaking to Reschedule Marijuana…”. My real-time analysis of what a Schedule III placement would mean can be found here.

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DEA Marijuana Business Banking 109

Canna Law Blog

JANUARY 11, 2024

Big federal law changes in cannabis regulation are on the horizon. Today I want to talk about what changes I think are on the horizon. Bruen had nothing to do with cannabis users’ gun rights, but many courts have used the test to hold that the federal laws discussed above are unconstitutional. In 2022, the U.S.

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Cannabis Law Legalization Topical 126

Canna Law Blog

JULY 31, 2024

Whether you support them or not, intoxicating hemp products are probably not going to be around for much longer in their current form. Loper ended what’s often referred to as “ Chevron deference.” For the record, I agree with folks like Shane Pennington who argue that Loper will not affect rescheduling.]

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Canna Law Blog

NOVEMBER 4, 2024

Last Thursday, we learned that the DEA’s marijuana rescheduling hearings are delayed until early next year. In this respect, it is puzzling why some of the industry folks, including cannabis lawyers, were howling at last Thursday’s news. In short, people need to take a breather and understand that things are going as expected.

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DEA Marijuana Decriminalization Topical 118

Canna Law Blog

MARCH 7, 2024

Our cannabis team has performed due diligence on countless business purchases, investments, loans, and just about every other kind of transaction you can imagine. With rescheduling on the horizon (see here and here ), we expect to see an increase in loans, investments , and other transactions. refuses to participate in the process.

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Canna Law Blog

DECEMBER 6, 2022

As we blogged about last week, the SAFE Banking Act is trying to claw its way back from the dead during this lame duck session of Congress. Whenever we get a cannabis-related memo from DOJ, I get pretty excited. Whenever we get a cannabis-related memo from DOJ, I get pretty excited. Here’s the memo (“Memo”).

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Canna Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 6, 2024

Here’s what I said then: Loper ended what’s often referred to as “ Chevron deference.” Ever since Loper was decided, there have been a million different theories on how it could affect the cannabis and hemp industries. And that is essentially what happened in Anderson. delta-9 THC.

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Canna Law Blog

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

I’m pretty sure that more ink has been spilled on the Secure and Fair Enforcement Act (“SAFE Banking”), than any other proposed cannabis law. SAFE Banking will finally go to mark-up this week in the Senate Banking Committee. Be careful what you wish for. It just won’t pass and it just won’t die. This bill should pass, right?

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Canna Law Blog

AUGUST 14, 2023

Most Americans favor federal cannabis legalization. Nearly all Americans support medical cannabis legalization. Federal cannabis legislation isn’t going to happen Back in 2018, when California opened up for recreational cannabis licensing, all I heard was how federal cannabis legalization was around the corner.

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Cannabis Law Report

JULY 31, 2022

This is what they are saying. Attorney General, pressing for the end of cannabis prohibition. The Warren-Booker letter , dated October 6, 2021, advocates for DEA to remove cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act— which would decriminalize the plant at the federal level. Government’s ear on cannabis.

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Canna Law Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2022

On September 29, I spoke on an opening panel at the 7th annual Cannabis Law Conference for the Cannabis Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. And we both agree that this Congress will likely do nothing at all (just look at what’s happened with the SAFE Banking Act , for one sorry example). What does that mean?

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Canna Law Blog

APRIL 7, 2025

Nowhere might disaster profiteering end up being more devastatingor more opportunisticthan in the cannabis industry. The cannabis crash waiting to happen The U.S. cannabis sector has long been caught in limbo: legal in most states, but still a Schedule I substance federally. That fear, and related administrative actions (i.e.

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DEA Banking Policy Cannabis 78

Canna Law Blog

JUNE 11, 2019

For the past three years, I have taught a class called “Cannabis Law & Policy” at Lewis & Clark Law School here in Portland, Oregon. Good students will not let you off the hook on hard problems, and there are plenty of vexing issues when it comes to cannabis. The old laws are worse than you think.

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Canna Law Blog

JANUARY 2, 2024

2024 is going to be a crazy year for cannabis businesses and investors. Okay, that last one is probably a longshot given how incompetent Congress has been on cannabis, but we’ll see. Okay, that last one is probably a longshot given how incompetent Congress has been on cannabis, but we’ll see.

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Canna Law Blog

JANUARY 17, 2025

Its been a wild week in the rulemaking around marijuana rescheduling, to say the least. What is even going on right now? Marijuana rescheduling is mired in an administrative rulemaking process, whereby the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is the hapless, cynical proponent of a proposed Department of Justice (DOJ) rule.

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Canna Law Blog

JULY 22, 2024

We can trot out some deep cuts with Kamala Harris here on the blog. In January 2018, I picked her out of the pile as an example of a politician who talks a big game on cannabis while doing nothing helpful. Harris did little to advance her state’s interest as to cannabis. I thought we were done with this stuff.

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Canna Law Blog

JANUARY 31, 2024

Every election cycle, we grade the many of the presidential candidates based on their track record with cannabis ( here’s our summary of 2020’s main candidates). an A- on the cannabis scale. said he would legalize cannabis and even psychedelics–a view he has repeatedly affirmed. So what would an RFK Jr.

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Treatment Cannabis Policy Decriminalization 124

The Joint Blog

JUNE 2, 2020

A large section of the public cares about cannabis. And others are looking for significant distinctions to support cannabis law changes. A candidate’s attitude towards cannabis should include an array of issues such as changes in the social justice and criminal justice system. Federal Law Possession of cannabis in the U.S.

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