Illinois remains the epicenter of marijuana legalization in 2019. During August alone, Illinois has passed new legislation expanding and cementing its medical marijuana program, and shown necessary flexibility as it attempts to get its recreational market off the ground by January 1, 2020.
Read MoreA judge in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania recently threw out evidence obtained from the search of a vehicle after state troopers used the smell of marijuana as the basis for their probable cause.
Read MoreSeven Oklahoma medical marijuana dispensaries are suing Facebook after the platform allegedly booked them into “Facebook jail.” “Facebook jail” is when Facebook temporarily disables a page or profile for allegedly violating community standards.
Read MoreYou don’t see many Writs of Mandamus these days. Yet on August 5th, Santa Fe District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid signed an Alternative Writ of Mandamus officially ordering the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) to allow out-of-state residents to participate in New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program.
Read MoreIn 2015, Louisiana lawmakers legalized medical marijuana. It took four years, but sales are finally set to begin this week after the Department of Agriculture cleared the first product for release.
Read MoreFlorida’s First District Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Florida Dept. of Health, et al. v. Florigrown, LLC, Case No. 1D18-4471, last week. The court’s ruling upended Florida’s medical marijuana industry by deeming the state’s current regulatory scheme—and by extension the cap on the number of licenses—unconstitutional.
Read MoreMarijuana-related employment lawsuits are on the rise as more workers who have been fired or denied a job over their marijuana use are utilizing litigation to challenge the decisions. This, in turn, is forcing employers to formulate new strategies to balance the risk of litigation against the possibility of impaired employees hurting someone on the job, damaging the business, or possibly even worse.
Read MoreWisconsin has long been known for its progressive politics. Yet on one of the more progressive issues of the era—the legalization of marijuana for recreational and/or medical use—Wisconsin has made essentially no progress. It is among the minority of states that have not legalized marijuana for any purpose.
Read MoreMissouri residents approved medicinal marijuana via Constitutional Amendment 2 back in November 2018. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (“DHSS”) is charged with running the medicinal marijuana program. On June 4, 2019, in preparation for the program to go live in early 2020, the DHSS released application forms to be completed by individuals wishing to become “qualifying patients.” The DHSS will begin accepting the applications on June 28, 2019.
Read MoreOn June 10, 2019, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 1325, a law that will immediately allow for hemp farming and the production of low-THC hemp and cannabidiol (“CBD”) products. Although some CBD products were already available throughout the state, their legal status was—at best—unclear. Now with the new law, CBD products containing less than 0.3% THC can be legally bought and sold.
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