Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) is retiring next month. Mr. Blumenauer, or “Earl” as he often asked to be called, has been a leading proponent of cannabis reform since 1973, when Oregon was the first state to decriminalize user amounts of the plant. Blumenauer was a brand new face in the Oregon House of Representatives at
For anyone who couldn’t attend last Wednesday’s webinar on cannabis receiverships, we are pleased to present the replay video below. It’s also hosted on YouTube, here. This webinar covered a lot of ground, and it was certainly timely. The following afternoon, reporting broke that Harborside, one of the biggest names in cannabis, was pushed into
Florida is set to vote this coming Election Day on the Marijuana Legalization Initiative, also known as Amendment 3. Voters in the Sunshine State will have the chance to amend Article X, Section 29 of the Florida Constitution to allow the possession, purchase, and use of marijuana products and marijuana accessories. The proposed initiative would
Last week, I wrote a round-up post on Oregon cannabis. This week, I thought I’d drop a line on the federal happenings. Which are quite a few. The Nixon tapes This was a fun piece of news, unearthed by Minnesota cannabis lobbyist Kurtis Hanna. Ernesto Londoño then broke the story on September 14th for the
Last week, I wrote a post entitled “Loper Comes For the DEA. Will it Matter Though?” In that post, I discussed a brand new federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals case that concluded that hemp derivatives like THC-O are not controlled substances. The hemp community has largely celebrated this as a win, even though as
Now that Labor Day is in the rear view and people are paying attention again, it seems like a good time to drop a line on Oregon cannabis. Here are some highlights, to launch you into fall. OLCC’s 2024-2028 Strategic Plan A draft of the 2024-2028 Strategic Plan was first circulated at a Commission meeting
Earlier this week, the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case entitled Anderson v. Diamondback Investment Group, LLC, handed the DEA a big loss when it comes to hemp – at least for now. In Anderson, the court held that DEA’s interpretation that a host of hemp-derived products were illegal was essentially wrong. Today I
Earlier this year, the DEA initiated rulemaking to reclassify cannabis as a schedule III narcotic. This is probably the biggest news in cannabis reform since the Controlled Substances Act became law. A lot of folks had hoped that cannabis would be rescheduled in advance of the 2024 election. Those hopes were dashed when the DEA
Yesterday, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) near-noticed a hearing for its marijuana rescheduling proposal. The hearing would begin on December 2, 2024 at 9 a.m. ET, and may span multiple days or even weeks. The announcement came via an unpublished “notice of hearing on proposed rulemaking” (NOH). The final NOH is set for publication this
We have been following Minnesota’s progress on cannabis legalization for a while here at the law firm. It’s a state with huge potential, and reports from our attorneys at CannaCon last weekend were glowing. As a native Minnesotan (Duluth; Moorhead) who frequently returns to the state, I’m personally rooting hard. There is a lot to
