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As the dust continues to settle on New Jersey’s legalization and decriminalization of cannabis, employers should take note of the laws’ significant employment implications. While forthcoming regulations will better define the contours of the new requirements, below are the most pressing takeaways for New Jersey employers.
Continue Reading What New State Cannabis Legalization Means for New Jersey Employers

Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that its fifth annual Food Litigation Year in Review, in coordination with the expansion of the firm’s practice, has been broadened and renamed the Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review. With this rebranding, we have featured a section on the latest cannabis litigation trends.…
Continue Reading Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Litigation Year in Review 2020

Leafly and Whitney Economics have issued an annual jobs report reflecting updated jobs and revenue numbers for the state-legal cannabis industry in 2020. While 2020 will be remembered as the year that a deadly pandemic shuttered thousands of small businesses, it should also be remembered as the year that set the cannabis industry on a path to become a leading economic contributor to the U.S. economy.
Continue Reading Leafly Releases Job Report: Cannabis Job Growth “Astonishing”

Perkins Coie is proud to announce the launch of “Cannabis Law: A Primer on Federal and State Law Regarding Marijuana, Hemp, and CBD,” published by the American Bar Association, authored by various Perkins Coie Cannabis Law attorneys, and edited by Barak Cohen, chair of our Cannabis Law industry group, and Michael Bleicher. Until…

Though it appeared the smoke might blow in a more favorable direction, the hopes of marijuana-adjacent businesses using the Bankruptcy Code were snuffed out once again by the Bankruptcy Court in Colorado. The Controlled Substances Act (the CSA) makes it illegal to rent, lease, or make available for use or profit from a location for the manufacture, storing, or distribution of controlled substances. Federal law generally imposes criminal liability for aiding and abetting the unauthorized manufacture, distribution, or dispensing of marijuana, which is a Schedule 1 controlled substance. A number of courts have ruled that businesses whose operations constitute federal crimes cannot take advantage of the federal bankruptcy system.[1] Bankruptcy courts have even dismissed cases where the debtor does not operate a cannabis business, but operates ancillary businesses such as the manufacture or sale of equipment that may be used to cultivate marijuana (discussed below), or leasing real estate to marijuana growers.
Continue Reading Another Blow to Bankruptcy Relief for Marijuana-Adjacent Debtors

If you’re looking for a landslide in the 2020 elections, look no further than the undisputed winner—marijuana. In each of the ballot initiatives up for consideration, voters said yes to expanded liberalization in cannabis-related laws by undeniably wide margins. Voters from across the political spectrum in red and blue states alike approved medical and recreational cannabis laws, including the legalization of medical cannabis in Mississippi and South Dakota and the legalization of cannabis possession by adults in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota. Legislatures will soon enact laws in conformance with these ballot initiatives. A total of 35 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use, 15 of which allow adults to legally use the drug for recreational use as of November 2020.
Continue Reading What Financial Institutions Need to Know About Banking Legal Cannabis Companies

On December 7, 2020, cannabis industry leaders, former federal government officials, and leading state regulators met for a Virtual Public Policy Summit, a policy discussion among key leaders in the cannabis industry that was co-hosted by the Marijuana Policy Project and the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA). Participating industry leaders discussed how to define and address key issues to help advance the cannabis industry in 2021 and beyond. To help facilitate candid discussion, the event was closed to the media (likewise, comments made and positions taken described below have not been ascribed to particular speakers).
Continue Reading Striving to Reach Consensus on a Regulatory Framework for the Emerging Cannabis Industry

Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3884, the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (“MORE”) Act.  The MORE Act would remove marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act and would eliminate criminal penalties for the manufacture, distribution, and possession of marijuana.

The MORE Act also makes other changes to existing law, such as making Small Business Association loans and services available to cannabis-related business and service providers; requiring the Bureau of Labor Statistics to public demographic data on cannabis businesses owners and employees; creating a reinvestment program to administer services to individuals and communities adversely affected by the War on Drugs, and prohibiting the denial of federal public benefits on the basis of cannabis-related conduct or convictions.
Continue Reading House Passes MORE Act, Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana

On November 17, a California court tossed a challenge to a statewide rule allowing delivery of cannabis to any jurisdiction in the state. The state’s Bureau of Cannabis Control (“BCC”) issued a regulation that “[a] delivery employee may deliver [cannabis] to any jurisdiction within the State of California.” 16 C.C.R. § 5416. Many local jurisdictions in California have regulated or limited the sale and delivery of marijuana within their borders. Fearing that the regulation would preempt their local ordinances, a group of these jurisdictions brought suit challenging the BCC’s rule.
Continue Reading California Court Dismisses Pot Delivery Challenge

Legalization of marijuana continues at the state level including in several new states this November, but it remains illegal at the federal level. Given this illegal status, businesses and individuals directly involved in the marijuana industry have often been unable to obtain relief in federal bankruptcy courts—with bankruptcy courts dismissing marijuana cases because the purported debtor’s conduct is unlawful under federal law. Three cases decided in 2020 highlight potential barriers to bankruptcy protection faced by debtors even when they are only indirectly involved in the marijuana industry.
Continue Reading Marijuana Industry Takes a Big Hit in Federal Bankruptcy Court in 2020