Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

We’ve got lots of state news this week – South Dakota, Alabama, and Kentucky all took action on adult-use marijuana.  On the federal level, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the Justice Department to weigh in on reimbursements for medical cannabis.  Meanwhile,
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: February 25, 2022

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

Connecticut legalized adult-use cannabis.  Rhode Island could soon follow.  The Supreme Court declined to hear a case involving Section 280E.  A federal marijuana research bill is making its way through Congress.  And if you’d like a little cannabis in your seltzer,
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: June 25, 2021

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

Two bipartisan cannabis research bills start their legislative journey.  The Supreme Court refuses to hear a 280E case.  Attorney General Garland reiterates his disinterest in prosecuting marijuana users abiding by state law.  The Texas legislature moves on cannabis decriminalization.  And finally,
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: May 7, 2021

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

Maine began sales of adult-use cannabis.  The Supreme Court declined to hear a case concerning marijuana rescheduling.  New Zealand will vote on recreational cannabis on Saturday.  Hemp growers are unhappy over the DEA’s hemp rule.  And finally, marijuana made an appearance
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: October 16, 2020

As you might recall from our previous post, The 10th Circuit Grants Re-leaf to Workers Seeking Overtime Under the FLSA, the 10th Circuit held that cannabis employers are not immune from federal overtime laws even though the cannabis sector is illegal under federal law.

The employer in Robert Kenney v. Helix TCS, Inc., sought to clear the haze
Continue Reading The ‘High’ Court Denies Review of Federal Overtime Case Involving Cannabis Employees

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

Vermont’s governor allowed marijuana sales.  Illinois faces another lawsuit over its licensing program.  Colorado’s governor expunged criminal records.  The Supreme Court denied cert in a cannabis  pay case.  The 9th Circuit may hear a challenge to the DEA’s marijuana scheduling.  And
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: October 9, 2020

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

A state task force is continuing to examine issues surrounding legalized recreational use of marijuana.


Continue Reading The Week in Weed: October 6, 2017

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

Startups are finding new ways to tailor technologies specifically to cannabis businesses.


Continue Reading The Week in Weed: February 3, 2017

Two years after Colorado amended its constitution to legalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana, in December 2014, the states of Nebraska and Oklahoma filed a motion in  the U.S. Supreme Court for leave to file a complaint against the state of Colorado, ultimately seeking to invalidate portions of Colorado’s constitutional amendment concerning marijuana and to enjoin its implementation.

Upon request by the Supreme Court, the United States submitted an amicus brief in support of its views on the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) in states wherein the sale and distribution of marijuana has been de-criminalized.  After citing to memoranda from 2009 and 2013—in which the Department of Justice provided instructions in reviewing the prosecution of CSA violations related to marijuana use in these states—the DOJ expressed the view that the Plaintiff states’ motion should be denied.  The United States proposed denial of the motion because the case was not “appropriate… for the exercise of [the Supreme Court’s] original jurisdiction” and “[e]ntertaining the type of dispute at issue here—essentially that one State’s laws make it more likely that third parties will violate federal and state law in another State—would represent a substantial and unwarranted expansion of [the Supreme Court’s] original jurisdiction.”

The United States continued by citing Supreme Court precedent related to the Court’s original jurisdiction in disputes between or among states.  “The model case for invocation [of such] is a dispute between States of such seriousness that it would amount to casus belli if the States were fully sovereign” (emphasis added).  The United States rejected the idea that the case at bar fell into the above category, and provided examples where original jurisdiction was found (e.g., claims that an agent of the defendant state was engaging in environmental harms against plaintiff state).  Further, the United States argued that original jurisdiction is proper only where one state’s actions amounted to the direct cause of harm to another state.  Essentially, the United States argued that the Supreme Court should hear cases only where one state’s actions were the direct cause of another state’s harm.  The Plaintiff states’ contention that the de-criminalization of the sale and distribution of marijuana in Colorado would increase the amount of third-party crime in their states simply did not meet the referenced standards as Colorado did not direct or authorize such action, the United States argued.

Moreover, the United States appeared unpersuaded by the Plaintiff states’ assertion that the Supreme Court was the only venue in which they could sue Colorado.  However, the United States pointed out that the states could engage in suit at the district court level, and noted that two suits raising the issues at bar were pending in the District of Colorado courts. 
Continue Reading Marijuana Controversy Not a High Priority for Supreme Court