The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has finalized a rule to amend its drug testing policy in a way that could have significant implications for truckers, commercial drivers, pilots and other federally regulated transit workers who use marijuana off the job. In a notice last Tuesday, the department said that it has completed the rulemaking
In a precedential decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) affirmed an examining attorney’s refusal to register two “Bakked” trademarks by deeming the goods to be illegal drug paraphernalia under the Controlled Substances Act (the “CSA”) and deciding the two exemptions of the CSA did not apply. The Bakked trademark applications National Concessions Group
On May 4, 2023, the New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) formally announced a Cannabis Control Board (CCB) on May 11, 2023. Why is this such a big deal? Well, as we wrote about here, OCM’s Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Director Axel Bernabe provided this response to a question by Green Market
Delaware has joined the ranks of jurisdictions with legal adult-use marijuana, with the recent enactment of two bills by the state’s legislature. House Bill 1 (HB 1) amends Title 16 of the Delaware Code to remove all penalties for the use or possession of marijuana, as long as the amount does not exceed certain statutory
One thing to know about litigation is that timing is everything. Many clients that come to us are unaware that the process of litigating is governed by a series of statutorily-defined deadlines and schedules. Failing to abide by those deadlines can have huge effects on a litigant’s position in a lawsuit. One of the worst
As foreshadowed by our recent post, on May 3, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed cannabis legislation that significantly increases the civil and tax penalties for unlicensed and illicit cannabis sales. The legislation was passed in conjunction with New York budget for the 2024 fiscal year. So what’s included in the new cannabis legislation?
Corporate governance is a basic requirement of any business. So of course, cannabis businesses often just ignore it. Some of them may pay a lawyer to put together a simple set of bylaws and an organizational resolution (or operating agreement for an LLC), and then basically close their files until something “big” comes up. This
A “subpoena” is used in cannabis litigation (or any litigation) when third-party witnesses or documents become necessary for a lawsuit. Over the years, we’ve seen the need for subpoenas come up in a variety of contexts. Below is a primer on what to do as a recipient of one: What is a subpoena? There are
On April 20, my colleague Hilary Bricken wrote a post entitled, “Cannabis Collections Headaches and What to Do.” In it, she discussed a problem that’s been plaguing California cannabis businesses throughout: distributors and retailers that don’t pay their bills. Towards the end of the article, she mentioned a piece of proposed legislation to address the
We all know the Oregon cannabis industry is struggling. We write often about the causes on a macro level, possible solutions, and what we see as business litigators. We haven’t written much about one of the basic areas of employment law that applies to Oregon marijuana businesses: workers rights to wages and employer responsibilities. As
