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

Missouri begins medical marijuana sales.  Opponents of legalization in Montana speak up.  The 9th Circuit releases an immigration opinion involving marijuana.  Asylum seekers are disqualified by most cannabis offenses.  And finally, medical marijuana is free in France.

missouri

Almost two years
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: October 23, 2020

The legal cannabis business is spreading like weeds.  As several states and foreign countries have enacted laws decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, a fresh rush of reefer madness has overtaken the business world.  Investments in the cannabis industry are now available as ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), and marijuana startups are proliferating at every step along the supply chain.
Continue Reading Weed and Worry — The Immigration Consequences of Engaging in the Cannabis Trade

TBT readers are invited to join Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s upcoming webinar, “Risky Business: US Immigration Law and the Marijuana Industry,” on October 22 at 12 pm CT.

Register here
There is no cost to attend, but registration is required.

About the Program:

Despite the growing trend by states and foreign countries to legalize cannabis for recreational or medicinal use, and
Continue Reading Upcoming Webinar: Risky Business: US Immigration Law and the Marijuana Industry

As a number of states and the District of Columbia have moved to permit possession, use and sale of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes and the business of legalized cannabis distribution has grown exponentially, federal law banning such activity remains unchanged.  Deeming the trend in state law irrelevant, federal immigration authorities have in fact moved in the opposite direction.  Last month, on April 19, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced policy guidance “to clarify that violations of federal controlled substance law, including violations involving marijuana, are generally a bar to establishing good moral character for naturalization, even where that conduct would not be an offense under state law.” (uscis-issues-policy-guidance-clarifying-how-federal-controlled-substances-law-applies-naturalization-determinations)
Continue Reading Too Natural for Naturalization: Even Decriminalized Marijuana Can be a Bar to US Citizenship

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

Our first stop this week is Alabama, where the Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would revamp the state’s medical marijuana program.  This is only a preliminary step on the road to passage, of course; both chambers must approve
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: April 26, 2019

While marijuana possession and use continue to become legal in many U.S. states, either for strictly medicinal purposes or for any purpose at all, it can still be a basis for denial of immigration benefits, such as temporary visas, legal permanent residency, and/or naturalization, or for revocation of existing immigration benefits.  This can even be true where the possession and/or
Continue Reading Marijuana Still Legally Risky For Non-Citizens (And Those Who Sponsor Them)