By Hilary Bricken The political stars may finally be aligned to see meaningful marijuana law reform be puff-puff-passed. It seems like every year, the old pot guard in Congress tries its hand at some form of marijuana legalization. Though these sorts of actions attract headlines (and votes?), they never seem to go anywhere. But for […]
Rohrabacher- Blumenauer amendment
Trump Card: Is A Congressional Legislative Victory On The Horizon For States’ Rights And Pot?
Hopefully the Justice Department will leave state-legal marijuana businesses alone now. By HILARY BRICKEN When it comes to cannabis and this Presidential administration, it’s a bit like watching a soap opera, complete with all the drama and emotional crescendos you would expect. In this week’s episode, the rumor is that President Trump struck a deal […]
No Congressional Couch Lock: State Medical Marijuana Laws Protected Through September 30th
By HILARY BRICKEN The Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment can still be used as a shield for medical marijuana providers…for now. State implementation of medical marijuana laws are safe from interference from the Department of Justice until September 30th of this year. In a highly anticipated move, Congress extended the protections of the well-known “Rohrabacher-Blumenauer Amendment” (the “Amendment”) […]
Marijuana Madness: Jeff Sessions Rescinds State-Legal Pot Policies
By Hilary Bricken What will the Future DOJ marijuana enforcement look like? It’s finally happening — Attorney General Jeff Sessions will, today, rescind the 2013 Cole Memo regarding federal enforcement in states that legalized cannabis. The Cole Memo, which came on the heels of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington back in 2012, set forth […]
Jeff Sessions Waives Sword of Damocles
By Steve Schain With Jeff Sessions threatening to singlehandedly crush $7.2 billion legalized marijuana industry spanning 30 states, generating millions in taxes and providing 10 of thousands of jobs, much confusion abounds. While unclear if merely a “knee jerk reaction” to California program’s launch breadth of coverage, unless and until the United States Department of […]
DripDripDrip – What is AG Jeff Sessions Up To Now?
What is U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions working on today that affects the cannabis industry, and who is he working on it with? If the most recent meeting held just two weeks ago is any indication, he’s digging in deeper in his quest to stop legalization, and calling in bigger policy and researcher guns to […]
Opioid Crisis is Focus of Medical Marijuana Advocates as Congress Considers Extending – or Ending – Program Protection in December
It’s getting closer to December, which means it’s getting closer to yet another moment in which Congress could end the medical marijuana program protections for over 2 million patients in this country. That was the reason that the medical marijuana advocate group, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), took to Capitol Hill on November 1 to […]
House GOP Blocks Vote for State Medical Marijuana Protections
The U.S. House Committee on Rules has blocked a number of marijuana-related amendments from a federal appropriations bill, including the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment. The GOP-led committee’s moves late Wednesday mean multiple amendments protecting existing and future state marijuana laws won’t be getting a vote on the House floor. The most notable measure cast out of the must-pass appropriations […]
Dear Jeff Sessions: It Has Come to Our Attention…
The stage is set this summer for a battle on the Hill about marijuana legalization and what U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions really can and will do after months of hints, uncertainty, pleas for reasonable responses and knee-jerk reactions from financial institutions. It follows a battle of letters that began this spring. On April 3, […]
