canna law blog

MLK Day 2019: Marijuana and Civil Rights

Happy MLK Day! For our international readers, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a federal U.S. holiday marking the birthday of its eponymous civil rights hero. Dr. King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. Dr. King was assassinated in

canna law blog

Cannabis Litigation 101: Arbitration

This is the second post in a series on various aspects of cannabis litigation. The title is admittedly a bit misleading, as arbitration isn’t really the same thing as litigation. That said, the two can intersect, and so understanding what arbitration is and is not, is important for cannabis businesses. After all, many contracts in

canna law blog

California’s Proposed Modified Cannabis Regulations Could Prohibit Intellectual Property Licensing (!)

On Friday, the California Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Public Health, and California Department of Food and Agriculture issued 15-day notices of modification to the texts of their respective proposed regulations. The California Cannabis Portal has published links to each notice and the modified texts of the proposed regulations. For each set, the

canna law blog

MLK Day: Cannabis and Civil Rights

Happy MLK Day! For our international readers, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of its eponymous civil rights hero. Dr. King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. Dr. King was assassinated in

canna law blog

Public Officials and Cannabis: The Talkers and the Do-ers

When it comes to ending federal prohibition, some public officials are do-ers, and other are talkers. Here in Oregon, we are lucky enough to have Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who is a relentless advocate for ending prohibition. Blumenauer helped found the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, and appended his name to the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment (RBA), which prohibits the

canna law blog

They Said It On Marijuana, Quotable Saturday, Part CLXXXI

Representative Blumenauer provides a great overview here on the current political climate regarding opioids and cannabis. The Trump Administration claims to be working on solutions for the opioid crisis but seems too blinded by the stigma of cannabis to consider it as a viable solution. Research increasingly shows cannabis is at least a partial solution

canna law blog

They Said It On Marijuana, Quotable Saturday, Part CLXXX

Things were not perfect for the cannabis industry under the Obama Administration and Eric Holder and the Cole Memo (to which Holder is referring above), but they certainly were better than Jeff Sessions’ odd and obsessive loathing of cannabis. But instead of our getting all nostalgic, we just need to keep fighting. The populace and the numbers are on

canna law blog

They Said It On Marijuana, Quotable Saturday, Part CLXXVII

Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch proves again that seeing value in cannabis regulation is not a partisan issue. As he points out, the federal government’s lack of support for states’ rights and cannabis regulation hangs the states out to dry and leaves cannabis users without proper information on safety, dosing, and quality. Instead, the federal government