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
As business and corporate cannabis lawyers, we have registered and structured a large and ever-expanding number of pot businesses up and down the west coast. Most of these businesses are corporations or LLCs, and most of the time, these businesses are incorporated in the state where they will obtain a license to trade in marijuana.
The Gorilla Glue Company and GG Strains LLC, a Nevada-based cannabis company, entered a recent settlement agreement in the trademark infringement case brought by Gorilla Glue back in March. This case provided a perfect illustration of what NOT to do when developing your cannabis brand, and it now illustrates the possible consequences of infringing the trademarks
The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has only the jurisdiction Congress gave it in the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). Under this act, the FDA has broad regulatory powers over legal drugs, with more limited powers over food. Under the FDCA, the FDA categorizes a substance as either a food or a drug depending on how
Tom Price, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), resigned his post last week amid public health and personal travel debacles. Mr. Price’s resignation drew very little coverage from cannabis reporters, however, which was sort of strange because the HHS Secretary wields more influence over cannabis law and policy than any other public official besides Attorney General
Ah, California. The land of tech innovation, wine country, and endless coastline. Also the land of shysters, hucksters, and snake oil salesmen, far too many of whom have migrated to the booming cannabis industry to ply their trade. With the lead up to full implementation of the Medicinal and Adult Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety
Tuesday afternoon, the Washington Post broke an article that acting Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Chuck Rosenberg plans to resign within a week. Rosenberg is an Obama administration holdover going back to 2015, so the news was not totally unexpected. President Trump will be tasked with selecting a successor, which will lead to a confirmation hearing
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
Back in 2014, we wrote that bankruptcy is not an option for marijuana businesses. That issue has been litigated here and there since then, but as of today, cannabis businesses are no better off than before. The hard reality is this: all bankruptcy cases are handled in federal courts under rules outlined in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Those courts have held
In cannabis intellectual property (IP) law, as in most areas of cannabis law, separating the flowers from the weeds is difficult. There is a lot of misinformation available on the internet and elsewhere about whether pot is protectable under patent or similar laws, and what patentability means for the industry. This post gives an overview of
