Hemp farming is big business in southern Oregon. The investment needed to successfully plant, grow, harvest, and sell a hemp crop is substantial—in terms of both time money. Risks like drought, fire, pests, theft, and depressed prices add up to a business environment not for the faint of heart. Compounding these stressors are the risks
It has been well over two years since Congress enacted the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill), which legalized the commercial production of hemp and tasked the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) with the regulation of hemp-derived products intended for human consumption. Nevertheless, the FDA has yet to carve a legitimate
In all of the hubbub over New York’s legalization of adult-use (i.e. recreational cannabis), not a lot of ink has been spilled over the expansion of New York's medical cannabis program. As a brief refresher, New York first legalized medical cannabis in 2016. Since then, only 10 organizations (ROs), have been issued registrations. We are
On May 13, the health committee of Spain's Congress of Deputies approved a proposal to create a subcommittee that will consider other countries' experiences with medical cannabis. The subcommittee's findings could pave the way for medical cannabis legalization in Spain. According to a recent poll, approximately 90% of Spaniards would favor such a move. Spain
We work with a good number of multi-state operator (MSO) cannabis companies. Always have. Most of these companies are publicly traded, although others remain closely held. With more MSOs on the scene than ever before, it seems like a good time to list out some pitfalls for MSOs, their decisionmakers, lenders, etc., as these companies
Over the last few weeks we have seen a number of articles about New York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) written by attorneys based outside of New York or (worse yet) attorneys who are not licensed to practice law in New York. We have been pretty “vocal” about the importance of selecting the right
Delta-8 THC had a good run. People made money, customers were happy, and it all seemed legal to boot. Like all good things in life, states and the DEA are doing everything in their power to ensure that delta-8's run comes to an end. Let's talk about why. For those of you who may not
If you've been reading our blog for the last few years, you know that California has taken a pretty absurd position on hemp-derived CBD for the last few years. Though the state led the charge to legalize cannabis (in California, "cannabis" is legally defined as only marijuana and not hemp), the state just can't get
The Arizona Department of Health Services (the “Department”), which is the cannabis regulatory authority in Arizona, released the draft regulations for the Social Equity Opportunity Program (“SEOP”). Click here to view the draft regulations. Under the SEOP, Arizona will issue another 26 licenses. As set forth in the Arizona Revised Statutes (“A.R.S.”), the SEOP regulations
Back in 2015, when I was a regular columnist for Above The Law, I wrote a piece called "Cannabis Advertising: Is Pot Obscene?". That article focused on general speech issues around cannabis ads. We've also written over the years about how various social media platforms broadly prohibit pretty much any speech with the word "marijuana"
