Two of the biggest news drivers in the business world in recent years have been cannabis and data security. But they are usually discussed separately; there has not been much of a sustained focus on data and cybersecurity in the cannabis industry. We hope that changes because the cannabis industry is particularly vulnerable to data security issues.
Read MoreThere were numerous fits and starts with the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (the “SAFE Banking Act”) in 2019, and 2020 is off to a similar start with U.S. Representatives asking Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), the Senate Banking Committee Chairman, to reconsider proposed changes to the SAFE Banking Act.
Read MoreAfter passing the House in September with bipartisan support, the SAFE Banking Act seemed to have momentum. Senate Banking Chair Mike Crapo even stated he wanted his committee to mark up the bill before the end of this calendar year. But after committee members raised a few small issues, negotiations slowed significantly, eviscerating the bill’s previous momentum.
Read MoreThe “Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019” or “MORE Act” passed the House Judiciary Committee with a 24-10 vote on November 20, 2019. As we wrote about in more detail here and discussed on our podcast here, the MORE Act is a marijuana decriminalization bill that would, among other things, remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, allow states to set their own policy for marijuana legalization, implement a federal tax on marijuana products sold in states where such sales are legal, and seek to ensure that those impacted by the war on drugs have an opportunity to be a part of the cannabis industry.
Read MoreThe deaths and injuries traced to vaping have rattled Americans generally and the cannabis industry particularly, as at least some of the cases appear traceable to cannabis vaping products. According to an article in Forbes, however, the vaping incidents have not yet dampened American support for legal marijuana, which remains steady at 66% in a recent Gallup survey.
Read MoreLast week, a bipartisan group of 21 state attorneys general sent a letter to congressional leaders imploring Congress to pass marijuana reform legislation. Specifically, the letter exhorts Congress to pass the proposed Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act (the “STATES Act”), or similar legislation, that would “allow each State and territory to determine, for itself, the best approach to marijuana legalization within its borders, while at the same time creating protections to ensure that such regulation does not impose negative externalities on those states and territories that choose other approaches.”
Read MoreThe cannabis-related job market continues to expand according to a PoliticoPro report (subscription required) that analyzed data from Indeed.com, an employment search engine. In May 2016, cannabis job postings accounted for 231 per million total job postings. By May 2019, that number has increased nearly four-fold to 915 postings per million.
Read MoreToday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act (the “SAFE Banking Act”) in a historic and bipartisan vote, 321-103. The SAFE Banking Act would create a safe harbor for financial institutions who desire to do business with state-legal cannabis businesses.
Read MoreMuch of the recent news involving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and cannabis has concerned the FDA’s potential regulation of cannabidiol (CBD) products. According to a recent article in Politico, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb believes a similar discussion is warranted with respect to marijuana.
Read MoreLast week, the Center for Food Safety (a national non-profit public interest and environmental advocacy organization) released the results of a recent study that identified some disturbing findings about the CBD industry. According to the study, nearly half of the 40 companies surveyed received failing or near-failing grades (Ds and Fs) for “their production and processing methods, testing protocols, and transparency to consumers.”
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