Category: Cannabis Law Journal

As a result of the most recent Congressional Appropriations Act, hemp vaping products, including hemp extracts, CBD, and delta-8 THC, are about to be subject to a comprehensive law and set of federal and state regulations. This article discusses the new law and associated regulations. It also provide a practical overview of the things that all sellers of vape products should know. Click here to read our other article on the new vape requirements. 

In 2020, bankruptcy court doors continued to be shut to cannabis companies.  Perhaps most troubling is the continued bar for companies that are only tangentially involved in the state-legalized cannabis industry.  Although outlier cases exist, and even though courts have hinted that bankruptcy may be appropriate for some cannabis-related individuals and companies in some situations, there is a consensus now that bankruptcy is generally not available to individuals and companies engaged, directly or indirectly, in the cannabis industry.  Below are some of the most important decisions from 2020.

Speculation abounds these days with regard to the impact of the political environment on cannabis in the United States. Whether the conversation centers around the potential SAFE Banking Act, or the MORE Act, or the general social media hype on cannabis legalization or decriminalization, this tidbit of unverified information appears to be influencing investors’ decisions to purchase stock in cannabis companies.

While many states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana, marijuana remains an illegal controlled substance under federal law. As we have previously discussed, this has created a conundrum of sorts for employers who want to maintain a drug free workplace. In New York State, the landscape for employers has just gotten more challenging.

Heather Burke – Presentation February 2021 of latest developments with regard to cannabis and agriculture regulation in the state of California

Legislation that would make the use of cannabis for both recreational and medicinal purposes legal has been tabled in Bermuda’s House of Assembly. If passed into law, the Cannabis Licensing Act 2020 (Act) will provide a legal and regulatory framework for a Bermuda based cannabis industry.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation on February 22 enabling the constitutional amendment to legalize adult recreational use of cannabis and a companion decriminalization bill. Each law has significant employment implications, including a requirement in the enabling legislation that employers procure a “Workplace Impairment Recognition Expert” to conduct physical evaluations to determine marijuana use and impairment in the workplace.

New Jersey Cannabis had itself a week. Following a recent decision permitting the New Jersey Department of Health, Medical Marijuana Division (“DOH”) to continue scoring its 2019 Request for Applications (“2019 RFA”) and award twenty-four (24) additional medical cannabis licenses, New Jersey doubled down; with Governor Murphy not only signing into law the adult-use enabling legislation, but also finally appointing the remainder of the Commissioners to the five (5) person Cannabis Regulatory Commission (“CRC”). But what does this mean for what has quickly become the hottest cannabis marketplace in the United States? Well, a lot.

On February 22, 2021, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law sweeping legislation that not only decriminalizes state marijuana-related offenses, but also serves to vacate prior guilty verdicts and pleas, as well as diversionary programs such as pretrial interventions (PTI) and conditional discharge (CD) resolutions.

As more states legalize the use of cannabis[1], the market value of the U.S. cannabis industry is projected to reach $30 billion annually by 2025. Fifteen states currently allow the recreational use of cannabis and 36 states allow for the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. In addition, there is increasing pressure at the federal level to legalize cannabis for both medicinal and recreational uses. In order to sustain this rapid growth, ensuring consistent compliance with applicable environmental, health and safety rules and regulations cannot be underestimated.

The path to facility and product approval in  cannabis is a long road that requires attention to detail and proper knowledgeable people to guide the project from start to finish and beyond. There are different levels of GMP approvals, but our concentration will be on pharmaceutical manufacturing, food supplement manufacturing and grow side processing through the series. Keep in mind, GMP, or Good Manufacturing Processes, is are minimum standards set and approved by regulatory authorities to create uniformity of product production and to protect the consumers. In cannabis, we should always strive for higher quality to spread awareness,  increase education and speed distribution of products to patients worldwide.