Well, it’s over (for now) for Suzanne Sisley. As we covered last year, Sisley, et al. v. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, et al., Case No. 20-71433, was an appellate case filed by a group of scientists and veterans that had sued the DEA in May 2020. They, like so many others, argued that the DEA’s
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") maintained its strict and narrow position on the legality of cannabidiol ("CBD") by rejecting two new dietary ingredient (“NDI”) notifications submitted by Charlotte’s Web and Irwin Naturals. Both companies sought agency clearance to market their full-spectrum hemp extract as "dietary supplements." In its letters to these
The year 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of the so-called War on Drugs. As states across the country decriminalize and commercialize legal cannabis, some have declared drugs the winner of the Drug War. There is some truth to this assessment. Two-thirds of Americans currently support decriminalizing marijuana, now referred to by its less racialized, scientific
Nationwide, cannabis companies and advocates are hailing the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act as the savior of the future of cannabis (a copy of the bill is here). If the Act passes, we will finally have federal legalization and the consequences of the current federal conflict will end, or, at least be reversed in the
On June 29, the House Appropriations Committee (the Committee) released the draft of the fiscal year 2022 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill (the FY22 Agriculture Appropriations Bill), along with its Committee Report, in which it offers some promising provisions and instructions that would greatly benefit the hemp industry.
On Wednesday, a draft bill was released to end America's federal cannabis prohibition and remove "marijuana" from the Controlled Substances Act. The bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is titled the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act and was introduced as a discussion draft
On June 28, US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson was suspended for one month by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for using cannabis, effectively disqualifying her from competing in the Olympics. The suspension of a gold medal contending athlete caught many by surprise and sparked a worldwide debate about marijuana use by athletes should be addressed. Many
For the past year, my colleagues and I have written extensively on the murky legality of Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). We have covered everything from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s position on “synthetically derived THC” to the growing number of state bans. You can read more on these issues here: R.I.P Delta-8 THC DEA Interim Final
One interesting thing about cannabis law is how so much of it ties into “first principles”, or bedrock tenets of the U.S. Constitution. We lawyers spend our days papering deals and suing folks (always with good cause) and defending clients from lawsuits (which are always BS), so we seldom revisit first principles. But these principles
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
