Category: October 2020

Author: Mario F de la Hoz Schilling Abstract In December 2013, Uruguay became the first country in...

  Authored By Charles Gormally, Co-Chair of the Cannabis Law Practice at Brach Eichler LLC,...

Written by Steven M. Schain, Esquire Steve Schain is a Senior Attorney at Hoban Law Group and...

The Hemp Industries Association (HIA) and RE Botanicals, which also owns the Palmetto Harmony...

Since Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, research continues to identify positive benefits, further driving up already increasing sales of cannabis-related products. As investors smell the potential for a “green rush,” the number of companies seeking to enter the market will continue to grow. For those who distinguish themselves and succeed – as the saying goes – heavy lies the crown. This is especially true in California, where cannabis companies have already faced an initial wave of litigation.

On August 21, the DEA published an interim final rule (“IFR”), effective immediately, that caused alarm in the cannabis industry. The stated purpose of the rule was to correct inconsistencies between the DEA’s regulations and the statutory amendments made by the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (“AIA”), but what caught people’s attention was the reiteration that extracts above 0.3% Delta-9 THC are marijuana, as well as the following short paragraph: 

As with many industries in the United States, the future of the cannabis industry may very well be determined by the November election. The next steps for the industry will not be determined by the results of the presidential race, but the Senate race.

According to data from the Colorado Department of Revenue, the state has managed to extract ~$75 million dollars in marijuana tax revenue in 2015, while Uruguay has yet to produce any financial gains from its regulation of marijuana. This thesis places a specific interest in pointing out the origins of each law and the implementation procedures entailed by them, in order to determine their overall efficiency.

Portugal has recently published Regulatory-Decree No. 2/2020, of August 4, which establishes the framework for the cultivation and industrial exploitation of hemp varieties, thus putting an end to much uncertainty that was being felt in the Country.

The cannabis industry in Thailand took its first concrete step in February of 2019, when medical cannabis was unexpectedly legalized. In August 2019, a Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) notification delisted some components and derivatives of cannabis plants from the category of narcotics and reclassified them as products within the purview of individual laws (e.g., on medicine, herbal products, cosmetics, food, etc.).

The DEA published an interim final rule (IFR) late last week conforming its own regulations to meet Congress’ 2018 de-criminalization of hemp. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the “2018 Farm Bill”) removed hemp from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), and DEA’s recent action purports to realign the agency’s own regulations with the now two-year-old federal legalization of hemp.

As longtime Los Angeles cannabis business lawyers, we recognize that there are significant legal barriers to entry in California’s legal marijuana market. For this reason, an increasing number of smaller farmers are jumping on the bandwagon of something called “contract cannabis farming.” This is a common practice in mainstream agriculture that is just starting to gain steam in the cannabis market.