With so many new proposals for reconceptualized federal cannabis legislation floating around Congress, this summary should help clarify the differences to distinguish each bill from the others. This post will cover the MORE Act, the PREPARE Act, the States Reform Act, and the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. Part two in this series will cover
Unfazed by the federal leadership vacuum on cannabis, states continue to roll out cannabis proposals and programs. A total of 34 states considered cannabis reform proposals in 2021. Another 32 proposals (some of them pre-filed in 2021) are up for discussion here in 2022. These proposals range from limited decriminalization measures to comprehensive, adult use
The Caribbean is questioning its enduring ties to the British Crown, as it seeks to fully turn the page on its colonial past. During the next few years, we will likely see several of the independent Caribbean nations that maintain constitutional ties to the British monarch become republics, led by local heads of state. These
After a rollercoaster open market experiment, Oregon finally raised the walls on its cannabis program earlier this year. Typically, there are two broad approaches a state may take in walling off a regulated cannabis program, dormant commerce clause issues notwithstanding. The first is by enacting residency requirements for marijuana business ownership. Oregon did away with
On Thursday, a bipartisan collection of congressmen introduced a bill that would require to US Attorney General to lead a commission to oversee the process of making recommendations for a cannabis regulation system comparable to the current alcohol regulation system. The bill, called the Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE
Colombia has issued regulations on the import and export of cannabis products. Joint Resolution 539, issued in concert by four Colombian ministries on April 1, 2022, follows up on Decree 811 from last July, which expanded the scope of legal activities involving cannabis. The regulations specify which approvals are needed to import or export different
Yesterday, March 31, 2022, the House of Representatives again voted to end federal prohibition of marijuana by removing it from the list of banned substances. The bill—the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (the MORE Act)—passed by a vote of 220-204, largely along party lines. Next the bill goes to the Senate for approval, where
In anticipation of today’s scheduled vote on the MORE Act by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Biden Administration just announced that cannabis is now decriminalized, and that all federal cannabis convictions are hereby expunged. Actually, none of that is true. Sorry! It’s what passes for an April Fools joke here at the Canna Law
During a recent interview, Puerto Rico Sen. Joanne Rodríguez Veve (of the conservative Proyecto Dignidad) expressed her misgivings about the legalization of adult-use cannabis. As I have made clear before on this blog, Puerto Rico’s failure to fully legalize cannabis strikes me as dreadfully self-defeating. At a time when the island is in dire need
This past weekend, I was finally able to attend the renowned International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) here in Barcelona, Spain. The event had been cancelled for two consecutive years due to the pandemic. I attended interesting panels on everything from cannabis 3.0, to cannatech, to the current challenges of cannabis clubs in Spain. I want
