• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Business Directory
    • Buyers | Licensees
    • Sellers | Ancillary Businesses
    • Submit Product & Service Press Release
  • CBE Exchange
  • CBE Jobs Exchange
  • Events
  • Featured Videos
  • Product & Service Press Releases
  • Sponsored Polls
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Archived Webinars
  • Whitepapers

Cannabis Business Executive - Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

Recreational, Medical, Marijuana, Cannabis, And Hemp News for Cannabis Businesses

  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2
  • Home
  • Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • International
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • Israel
    • US A to F
      • Alabama
      • Alaska
      • Arizona
      • Arkansas
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Connecticut
      • Delaware
      • District of Columbia
      • Florida
    • US G to M
      • Georgia
      • Hawaii
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Idaho
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Kentucky
      • Louisiana
      • Maine
      • Maryland
      • Massachusetts
    • US M to N
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Mississippi
      • Missouri
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • Nevada
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • North Dakota
    • US O to V
      • Ohio
      • Oklahoma
      • Oregon
      • Pennsylvania
      • Rhode Island
      • South Carolina
      • South Dakota
      • Tennessee
      • Texas
      • Utah
      • Vermont
    • US V to W
      • Virginia
      • Washington
      • Wisconsin
      • Wyoming
      • Guam
      • Puerto Rico
  • Industry News
    • Advertising, Marketing, PR & Research
    • Banking, Finance & Real Estate
    • Compliance and Regulations
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Retailers
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • HR and Staffing
    • North Of The Border
    • Industry People/On the Move
    • Packaging and Supplies
    • Press Releases
    • Processors
    • Producers
    • Security Solutions
    • Science and Technology
    • South Of The Border
  • CBE Lists
    • Ancillary Businesses
      • 2019 CBE Ancillary Business Survey CLICK HERE
      • 2018 CBE 155 A/B
      • 2017 CBE 150 A/B
      • 2016 CBE 100 A/B
    • Producers, Processors, Retailers
      • 2017 CBE 200 PPRs
      • 2015 CBE 100 PPRs
    • Industry Women
      • Glass Ceiling Wreckers: 2019 CBE Power Women of Cannabis
      • 2017 CBE 75 Most Important Women
      • 2016 CBE Top 50 Women
      • 2014 CBE Most Influential Women
    • Most Important Companies
      • 2016 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
      • 2014 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
    • Political 100
      • 2017 CBE Political 100
      • 2016 CBE 100 Political
      • 2014 CBE Political 50
    • 2014 CBE 100 Most Important People
    • CBE RFP Hotlists
      • 2014 CBE Lab Testing Services HotList
      • 2016 BHO Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Supercritical CO2 Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Security Solutions
      • 2016 Edibles & Infused Products
  • Company Stories
    • Up and Comers
  • Hemp Business Executive
    • Hemp Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Industry News
    • Hemp State Regulatory Agencies
  • Newsletters
    • CBE Week
    • CBE Human Capital Management
    • CBE Technology & Solutions
    • CBE Policy and Legal Update
    • CBE Product and Service Announcements
  • Op-Ed
    • Cartoons
    • The Buck Stops Here
    • Opinions
    • Comments
  • Associations
  • State Regulatory Agencies
    • Marijuana
    • Hemp
  • Contact
  • AB Survey
  • About Us
  • Account
  • Accounting Services
  • Advertise
  • Advertising, PR & Marketing
  • All Cannabis News
  • Ancillary Business Survey 2018
  • Ancillary Business Survey 2019
  • Archived Webinars
  • Associations & Organizations
  • Banking & Payment Processing
  • Better Start for the Glass Ceiling in this Industry, CBE’s Most Influential Women
  • Book Reviews
  • Business Directory
  • Business Directory Introduction
  • Business Directory Listing
  • Business Directory Manage
  • Business Directory Registration Info
  • Business Directory Welcome
  • Call for speakers
  • Cannabis Investments
  • Cart
  • CBE Exchange
  • CBE HotLists
    • CBE Lab Testing Services HotList 2014
  • CBE Lists
  • CBE Political 50
  • CBE Press LLC Privacy Statement
  • CBE Press News
  • Checkout
  • Consulting Services
  • Consumption Gear
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Contributors
  • Create Your Product & Service Press Release
  • Creative Submission
  • Cultivation Products & Services
  • Current Poll
  • Edible & Infused Products
  • Editor’s Page
  • Email Whitelisting Instructions
  • Event Listing Questionaire
  • Featured Videos
  • Funding Options
  • Hemp State Regulatory List
  • Home
  • Human Capital Management Newsletters
  • Industry Jobs
  • Join the CBE Business Directory
  • Join the Directory
  • Lab Testing Regulations
  • Lab Testing Services
  • Login
  • Logout
  • Marijuana State Regulatory Contacts
  • Marijuana Tax Facts
  • Media Kit
  • Medical Marijuana Qualifying Conditions
  • Members
  • MJ Media Kit
  • Most Popular Stories
  • Most Read Stories
  • New Product & Service Listings Welcome
  • News Releases
  • Newsletters
    • Ask CBE
    • CBE Human Capital Management
    • CBE Policy and Legal Update
    • CBE Product and Service Announcements
    • CBE Technology & Solutions
    • CBE Week
  • On the Move
  • Organizations & Associations
  • Packaging & Supplies
  • Password Reset
  • Policy & Legal
  • PPR Survey
  • Product Releases
  • Profile Update
  • Register
  • Security Solutions
  • Software & Technology
  • Sponsored Polls
  • State Cannabis Product Packaging Requirements
  • Terms of Service
  • Thank You
  • The Most Influential People in the Cannabis Industry, The Cannabis Business Executive 100
  • Training & Educational Services
  • Upcoming Webinars
  • User
  • Whitepapers
  • WV Senate passes medical marijuana bill to House
  • Categories
  • Locations
  • My Bookings
You are here: Home / Industry News / Compliance and Regulations / Are We Getting Closer to a ‘Supreme’ Moment in the Cannabis Industry?

Are We Getting Closer to a ‘Supreme’ Moment in the Cannabis Industry?

December 11, 2017 by David Hodes Leave a Comment

For years, thought leaders in the cannabis business have spoken about the possibility that the issue of cannabis prohibition would some day find its way into the Supreme Court.

That day was just pushed a little closer to reality by one of the staunchest opponents of the cannabis industry – outgoing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Christie used the states rights argument to push for online betting in a case at the Supreme Court, Christie v. the NCAA. The case involves a lawsuit by the state of New Jersey over the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a bill introduced in 1992 that prohibited state-sanctioned online betting in every state except for four – Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Oregon. New Jersey wanted to be one of those exempt states but failed to file on time for that exemption.

What PASPA is doing has been doing is forcing states to follow a law – a violation of the Tenth Amendment’s anti-commandeering doctrine – which pre-empts the role of the federal government about directing the states how to act. If the court rules that PASPA is unconstitutional on the Tenth Amendment, that could open the door to other states versus federal issues, i.e. state versus federal laws about cannabis.

“Just taking out the key phrase like on-line sport gambling and inserting cannabis commerce, it would be the exact same argument,” says Allen St. Pierre, former executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) who is now working with Freedom Leaf. “And there is nothing stopping these states where marijuana is legalized from going into court and suing the federal government. They can either file together or separately. That group of states represents a clear majority to come into the same court that New Jersey used for this argument of online gaming. And that case demonstrates that states have different viewpoints than the federal government, and that they have a degree of autonomy that they can argue.”

The irony that Christie has made no qualms about his position against legalizing marijuana has not been lost on any in the cannabis industry. In a radio interview in mid-November, Christie reportedly referred to legalizing marijuana as “blood money” that was “disgraceful and disgusting.”

But the good news is that Christie is out as governor as of the elections of November, 2017. Incoming Democratic Governor Phil Murphy is expected to legalize recreational cannabis in the state, with the full support of a senate composed of 25 Democrats (and just 15 Republicans), under the leadership of New Jersey Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney.

This isn’t the first time that the issue of cannabis has come up in some form at the Supreme Court – and it likely won’t be the last.

In March, 2016, the court declined to take on a lawsuit by both Nebraska and Oklahoma that would have shut down the Colorado cannabis industry. Their state attorney generals claimed that Colorado’s legalization had increased trafficking in their two states, forcing them to spend more on law enforcement resources.

“Today, the Supreme Court has not held that Colorado’s unconstitutional facilitation of marijuana industrialization is legal,” Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said in a statement. “And the Court’s decision does not bar additional challenges to Colorado’s scheme in federal district court.”

He added that his office is working with its partners in Oklahoma and other states to determine the best next steps toward “vindicating the rule of law.”

Then in July, a 12 year old girl, Alexis Bortell, who had to move from Texas to Colorado to get medical marijuana to treat her seizures, filed a lawsuit against Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the federal prohibition of medical marijuana. She was joined by another minor, a military veteran and former San Francisco 49ers defensive end, Marvin Washington.

While this lawsuit seems like a bit of a reach for legalization advocates, cases like these involving real human suffering are precisely the type of cases that can go as far as the Supreme Court. “I am interested to see what happens with this case,” St. Pierre says. “Years ago, cases like this were just readily dismissed. And that doesn’t seem to be the case here. They are opening up the prospect of a full trial.”

In today’s Supreme Court is President Donald Trump’s nominee and confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, formerly serving on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, who ruled on three cannabis-related cases in the past few years in that court. Whether he would be an ally or not in a Supreme Court case regarding something as momentus as federal marijuana legalization, however, remains to be seen. But his Colorado background has proponents hopeful he will get that chance and rule in favor of legalization.

It’s California that may have the political will and firepower to finally confront the feds on this issue if a case comes up involving the state. The current lieutenant governor and potential new governor of California in 2018, Gavin Newsom, has been a proponent of marijuana law reform for years, since before his days as mayor of San Francisco from 2004-2011, St. Pierre says. “And California Attorney General Xavier Becerra seems to be totally in favor of going after the federal government if they try to intervene negatively,” St. Pierre says. “He and Newsom, if he wins as governor, seem to sort of baking the cake that California politics will gird against a federal intervention on marijuana in California.”

 

Filed Under: Compliance and Regulations Tagged With: Alexis Bortell, Allen St. Pierre, former executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Governor Phil Murphy, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, New Jersey Democratic Senate President Stephen Sweeney, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), Thought leaders

About David Hodes

David Hodes is based in the greater Washington DC metropolitan area. He is the former editor of seven different business magazines, and has contributed feature articles to several business/lifestyle publications and national cannabis magazines. Hodes is also a former field producer for CBS News, NBC, NFL Network, ESPN and other media outlets; worked as a news promotions producer for two network affiliates; and was the morning news editor for a third network affiliate.

He is member of the National Press Club, and deputy booking agent for the National Press Club Headliners Committee.

Primary Sidebar

Ad: Sidebar 1

Featured Video

Associations & Organizations

clearing div

Ad: Sidebar 2

Business Directory

Ad: Skyscraper 1

CBE Jobs Exchange


Featured Jobs
Go
Post a Job
More jobs
Powered by CBEJobsExchange.com

RSS Recent Jobs

  • Business Development Officer - Specialty Ag - Bank Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI
  • Field Applications Support Scientist - Danaher - Framingham, MA
  • Flash Chromatography Applications Chemist - VRS Recruitment - , NY

Product & Service Press Releases

Ad: Sidebar 3

CBE Events

Ad: Sidebar 4

State Regulatory Agencies

Ad: Skyscraper 2

Webinars

Ad: Sidebar 5

Associations & Organizations

Ad: Sidebar 6

Featured Video

Ad: Skyscraper 3

Business Directory

Ad: Sidebar 7

CBE Jobs Exchange

Ad: Sidebar 8

CBE Events

Ad: Skyscraper 4

Industry Blogs



Footer

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • CBE Press LLC Privacy Statement
  • Contribute
  • Contributors
  • Newsletters
  • Terms of Service
  • Contributor Login
  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2

© Copyright 2020 CBE PRESS LLC. - All Rights Reserved. Cannabis Business Executive Is A Trademark Of CBE PRESS LLC. · All Rights Reserved · And Our Sitemap · All Logos & Trademarks Belong To Their Respective Owners·