Yesterday, in the grand American tradition of bungled, cannabis social equity programs, the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) canceled its social equity applicant lottery. In its announcement, OCM pivoted to an early 2025 lottery combining social equity and general applicants. This development was no real surprise, following a court order delaying the preapproval lottery
Oregon’s Measure 119 passed last week, as expected. This means that as of December 5th, every OLCC licensed retailer, processor, researcher and testing lab must secure a labor peace agreement before OLCC will approve a new or renewal license application. The labor peace agreement must be with a “bona fide labor organization.” I previewed M119
Last Thursday, we learned that the DEA’s marijuana rescheduling hearings are delayed until early next year. We also saw the list of 25 participants invited by the DEA to testify at those hearings. The takeaways here are: a) we will not have a substantive hearing on marijuana rescheduling until a new President takes office, and
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
In case you haven’t heard, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) wants to hear from you on marijuana rescheduling. Specifically, DEA invites your comments on its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to move both marijuana and marijuana extract from schedule I to schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The comment submission deadline is
The internet is a badlands of misinformation on cannabis law and policy. Less than stellar takes may be amplified on news sites, giving them a veneer of authority. Social media platforms, from X to LinkedIn (where all the pros are said to be) don’t have nonsense filters. This dynamic is not new! However, things reached
Move aside deep-fried Oreos—this year’s California State Fair is making history with the introduction of cannabis! For the first time in its 170-year history, California is inviting fair-goers to purchase and enjoy cannabis products directly on site. The decision celebrates the state’s vibrant agricultural and cannabis heritage, and showcases winners of the 2024 California State
I wrote about Robert Hunter Biden’s indictment for violation of federal gun laws in a post entitled “What the Hunter Biden Indictment Means for Cannabis Users” back in September 2023. On June 11, 2024, a jury in a federal district court in Delaware found Hunter guilty of three felony counts. Today I want to look
We are pleased to announce the addition of an esteemed litigation team to the Oregon office. Matt Goldberg, Nicole Gossett-Roxbury, and Deb Fernando have joined our law firm from Lotus Law Group. They will continue to focus on high-stakes business and real estate litigation. Their clients include business owners and operators, investors, financial institutions, and
Sometimes I’ll write about cannabis banking when I’m working on a project for a bank or credit union, but newsworthy developments on cannabis banking seldom seem to drop. Yesterday, however, we had a development worth covering: a Congressional Subcommittee added cannabis banking protections to a critical government spending bill. A GOP-chaired Subcommittee, no less. Marijuana
