Now that Massachusetts has voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, employers that want to maintain drug-free workplaces, the new marijuana law raises a number of questions regarding employer rights and obligations. In this client alert, we identify a number of issues facing employers in the wake of this new law and offer our initial reactions and insights.
Legalization Efforts
California High on Proposition 64’s Recreational Marijuana Law
By Geoffrey Westbrook & Michael Cross on
Posted in California Law, Legalization Efforts
Golden State voters trail-blazed the way for the legalized use and sale of marijuana on November 8, 2016. The California Marijuana Legalization Initiative, known as Proposition 64, was welcomed with open arms (and maybe a little cotton mouth) by the nation’s largest economy with a vote of 56% in favor of the law.
Continue Reading California High on Proposition 64’s Recreational Marijuana Law
UP IN SMOKE?: NORML Sues After Reports that FL Medical Marijuana Measure Disappeared From Ballot
By Meredith Bailey on
Posted in Legalization Efforts, Medical Marijuana
The Florida chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) filed a civil lawsuit against the Broward County Commissioner of Elections, after news reports indicated that some mail-in ballots did not include a question about a state constitutional amendment on allowing medical marijuana.
The plaintiffs’ are seeking “a judicial declaration enjoining the Defendants from distributing any…
Continue Reading UP IN SMOKE?: NORML Sues After Reports that FL Medical Marijuana Measure Disappeared From Ballot
The Week in Weed: October 21, 2016
By Susan Ryan on
Posted in Legalization Efforts, Week in Weed
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
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Why marijuana opposition is so effective in liberal Mass.
(Boston Globe, 18 October 2016)
Voters OK’d decriminalization and medical marijuana, but the Question 4 campaign is proving tougher.
- Cannabis REIT files to be listed on NYSE
(Marijuana Business Daily: News, 19
RE[e]FERENDUMS: 2016 Marijuana State Ballot Initiatives, Part 2
By Amy Abeloff & Samuel Sverdlov on
Posted in Legalization Efforts
As the race to the Presidential Election draws near, The Blunt Truth turns its attention to a second round of ballot measures in North Dakota and Maine, which seek to expand both medical and recreational marijuana use.
Continue Reading RE[e]FERENDUMS: 2016 Marijuana State Ballot Initiatives, Part 2
RE[e]FERENDUMS: 2016 Marijuana State Ballot Initiatives
By Meredith Bailey on
Posted in Legalization Efforts, Recreational Marijuana
With only a month to Election Day, The Blunt Truth turns its attention to the ballot measures in nine states that would expand legal access to marijuana. This week we look at two of the five states— Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada —with ballot measures proposing to legalize recreational marijuana use for anyone 21 and over:
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The Week in Weed: August 19
By Susan Ryan on
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
- Appeals Court Bars Feds From Prosecuting Medical Marijuana Cases
(Fortune, 18 August 2016)
The Justice Department can’t interfere with states’ medical pot laws.
Note: we’re preparing a blog post on this topic – keep watching this space!
The Week in Weed: August 12
By Susan Ryan on
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
- DEA declines to loosen restrictions on medical marijuana
(CNN.com, 11 August 2016)
The Drug Enforcement Agency will announce Thursday that marijuana will remain a schedule 1 drug, which declares it has “no medical use or purpose,” according to a…
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: August 12
DEA Buzzkill: Marijuana Remains Illegal Under Federal Law
By Amy Abeloff on
Yesterday sparks flew as word was out that the DEA would be making some important announcements relating to the treatment of marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Today, the excitement died down as the DEA issued a 180-page denial (inclusive of attachments; the actual denial is only three pages long) of a petition to…
Continue Reading DEA Buzzkill: Marijuana Remains Illegal Under Federal Law
Week in Weed: July 22, 2016
By Susan Ryan on
Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.
- Fund-raising in Cannabis, Initially Slow, Is Going Higher and Higher
(Entrepreneur: Latest, 20 July 2016)
You would have been hard pressed, just a few years ago, to find investments outside of family-office groups. Then Washington and Colorado legalized.