Protection of Adult-Use Cannabis from Federal Enforcement Passes House in Resounding Bipartisan Vote

On Thursday, the United States House of Representatives voted 267-165 to prohibit the United States Department of Justice from using appropriated funds to interfere with state-legal cannabis programs. The Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment (a.k.a. the Hinchey–Rohrabacher, Rohrabacher-Blumenauer, and Joyce Amendment) has provided similar protection to state-legal cannabis programs over the past decade, but only to medical programs….

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Oregon Hemp: ODA’s New “Total THC” Standard is a KEY Operations and Contract Issue

In the past few months, many of our Oregon hemp clients have asked us to clarify the testing requirements imposed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (“ODA”). Unlike other jurisdictions that only test for tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC” or “delta-9 THC”) concentration, the ODA rules provide that any industrial hemp product sold to consumers must contain no…

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FDA Provides Much-Needed Marketing Guidance to Vape Manufacturers

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration issued final guidance for vape manufacturers to submit premarket tobacco product applications (PMTA), which are required to obtain official authorization to market their products. These guidelines will invariably affect manufacturers of vape products that can be used with both tobacco and cannabis. In order for any new tobacco…

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Hemp-CBD Laws: Alabama

The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (“2018 Farm Bill”) legalized hemp by removing the crop and its derivatives from the definition of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) and by providing a detailed framework for the cultivation of hemp. The 2018 Farm Bill gives the US Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) regulatory authority over hemp…

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Notes on the First Public FDA Meeting on CBD

Last Friday, May 31, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) held its first public meeting during which stakeholders shared their perspective on how to regulate cannabidiol (“CBD”)-infused products. The objective of the meeting was to gather scientific data and information about the safety, manufacturing, product quality, marketing, labeling and sale of these products. As we…

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Cannabis Litigation: Second Circuit Could Force DEA to Re- or Deschedule Marijuana

A split decision decided last Thursday, May 30, by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reflects a lack of patience with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) when it comes to DEA’s handling of petitions to remove marijuana from the list of most dangerous drugs. As most of our readers likely know, the Schedule of Controlled…

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TSA (Sort of) Allows (Some) Hemp-CBD Products on Flights

In the past few months, our team has been quoted in several magazines and online publications on the risks of traveling with CBD products. These media inquiries resulted from repeated arrests of travelers in possession of CBD oil at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (“DFW”). At the time of these arrests, the Transportation Security Administration…

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USDA Says States Should Not Interfere With Hemp Transportation

On May 28th, 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) issued a non-binding opinion letter regarding hemp production (“USDA Letter“). The USDA’s Office of General Counsel (a.k.a., the USDA’s lawyer) made four conclusions in the letter, which I’ll explore in this post. 1. As of the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill on December…

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Everyone’s Asking: Why Isn’t the Marijuana Banking Act Moving in the Senate?

The banking associations from all 50 states and 1 U.S. territory sent a joint letter to leaders of the Senate Banking Committee on Monday, to urge advancement of bipartisan legislation that would protect financial institutions that service marijuana businesses. The banking associations complained that while the SAFE Banking Act cleared the House Financial Services Committee…

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Take Your Hemp or CBD Company Public on the TSX

Banking, intellectual property, food and beverage (and cosmetics), international trade, domestic trade, state laws, ag production contracts, etc., etc. When it comes to industrial hemp, the 2018 Farm Bill upended all of these things. Our cannabis business lawyers have been busy advising a large number of new hemp and hemp-CBD businesses getting in on the…

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