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Politico and Bloomberg both reported today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is officially recommending that marijuana be moved to Schedule III from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), a historic shift that indicates the top health agency no longer considers cannabis to have high abuse potential with no…

Cannabis: In Focus

  • VA Continues to Prohibit Doctors from Prescribing Cannabis to Veteran Patients
  • NY Judge Issues Court Order to Halt Cannabis Business Licensing
  • DEA Email Suggests DEA Considers Delta-8 THC a Controlled Substance
  • THC Testing Class Action Claims Proceed against Cannabis Company

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Continue Reading Cannabis Legal Report – Week of August 14, 2023

Cannabis: In Focus

  • Congressional Activity—New Hearing and Bipartisan Bill on Hemp
  • Vermont Cannabis Cultivators Refused Federal Relief After Floods
  • DEA to Request Timeline for Administration’s Scheduling Review of Cannabis

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Continue Reading Cannabis Legal Report—Week of August 7, 2023

The Coalition for Cannabis Scheduling Reform (CCSR) recently released its comprehensive report on the federal classification of cannabis, co-authored by Perkins Coie Cannabis industry group co-chair Andrew Kline, with support from associate Tommy Tobin, and edited by paralegal Hanna Barker Mullin.

CCSR makes the case in its report that marijuana is improperly placed in the…

Cannabis: In Focus

  • DEA Announces New Guidance for Synthetic Cannabinoids
  • Oregon To Hold Landowners Responsible for Illegal Cannabis Grow Operations
  • States Provide State-Level Tax Relief to Cannabis Businesses
  • D.C. Superior Court Rules Cannabis Odor Constituted a Nuisance
  • New Suit Alleges Illicit Cannabis Operations Harm State-Legal Retailers

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Continue Reading Cannabis Legal Report—Week of June 19, 2023

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra shared during a press conference on June 15 that relevant federal agencies are working to complete their administrative review of cannabis scheduling this year, according to Marijuana Moment.

Last October, President Biden took the historic step of directing his administration to “expeditiously” review…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released new guidance on sourcing and product quality to companies conducting clinical research related to the development of human drugs involving cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds. The agency’s nonbinding recommendations highlight potential opportunities for clinical researchers and sponsors of investigational new drugs after the 2018 Farm Bill significantly altered the regulatory landscape applicable to cannabis products.…

Continue Reading FDA Releases Guidance on Clinical Research into Cannabis-Derived Drugs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a final rule today, building off the interim final rule it issued in October 2019 and incorporating both public comments and the agency’s takeaways from the 2020 growing season. In general, the final rule makes modest adjustments to the interim final rule in order to make it less onerous for producers to grow hemp while imposing stricter requirements on how crop must be tested.

Most importantly, the final rule recognizes that growers may accidentally produce crop that contains more than 0.3 percent THC and raises the limit for negligently doing so from 0.5 percent to 1 percent, but requires that producers test for total THC levels in crop, rather than for delta-9 THC levels. Testing for total THC levels makes it more likely a crop could exceed the legal limit for THC in hemp.
Continue Reading USDA’s Final Rule Makes Hemp Easier to Grow, Harder to Test

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