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

We’ll start this week with some financial news.  CBD sellers looking for a payment processing method got some good news.  Square has just announced that they will start servicing the industry.  The state of California has issued guidance for financial institutions
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: October 11, 2019

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

Our first big story is legalization in Illinois.  The law takes effect on January 1, 2020.  That makes 11 states and the District of Columbia that have legalized recreational cannabis.

If you’re wondering why Illinois has succeeded where New York
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: June 28, 2019

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

In what may become another continuing feature, another “red” state appears poised to being the marijuana legalization process.  Member of the Nebraska legislature are looking to put medical cannabis on the 2020 ballot.

Meanwhile, if there were an award for best
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: December 21, 2018

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

Once marijuana is legal in a state, the process for providing it is just beginning.  And that process can be fraught with difficulty, as the state of Ohio is finding out.


Continue Reading The Week in Weed: September 21, 2018

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

Last week, we focused on Vermont’s legalization of recreational marijuana; this week we (re)turn our attention to Oklahoma.

Cultivators selected for Oklahoma’s emerging
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: July 13, 2018

On November 8, 2016, Maine voters approved “Question 1 – An Act to Legalize Marijuana,” and joined a handful of other states, including California, to have legalized the recreational use, retail sale and taxation of marijuana. The voter-approved law would have allowed persons 21 years of age or older to use or possess up to 2½ ounces of marijuana, consume marijuana in nonpublic places (including a private residence), and grow, at the person’s residence, up to 6 flowering marijuana plants (and up to 12 immature plants). It also would have legalized the purchase of marijuana or marijuana seedlings or plants from retail marijuana stores and cultivation facilities.

The law was to become fully effective on January 30, 2017. However, on January 27, 2017, the legislature approved a moratorium on implementing parts of the law regarding retail sales and taxation until at least February 2018, giving time to resolve issues and promulgate rules. However, on November 3, 2017, Governor Paul R. LePage vetoed legislation designed to set up a retail market for cannabis. On November 6, 2017, the Maine legislature sustained the Governor’s veto.
Continue Reading Not So Fast: Maine Legislature Overrides Governor’s Veto of Recreational Marijuana Law

As previously reported here, on November 8, 2016, Maine voters approved “Question 1 – An Act to Legalize Marijuana” (“the Act”), which allows for, among other things, the recreational use of marijuana. The Act became the first law of its kind in the nation to protect employees and applicants from adverse employment action based on their use of off-duty and off-site marijuana.

Simply stated, the Act prohibits employers from refusing to employ or otherwise taking any adverse action against any person age 21 or older based on that individual’s off-premises marijuana use. However, the Act permits employers to bar the on-premises use and possession of marijuana and to discipline employees for being under the influence of marijuana in the workplace. Employers may no longer test job applicants for marijuana. Moreover, according to the Maine Department of Labor, for purposes of a reasonable suspicion drug test, an employee’s positive drug test, by itself, will not be sufficient to prove that the employee is “under the influence” of marijuana.Continue Reading Maine Employers Receive Little Guidance From Department of Labor on New Recreational Marijuana Law

Can employers deny employment to people who use cannabis under a medical prescription authorized by state law? In more and more states, the answer is now “No.”

Changes in cannabis laws are creating a new haze for employers. What follows is a quick summary citing some (not all) states that now require employers to think twice before denying employment to individuals because they tested positive for the use of marijuana that they are ingesting for state-authorized medical reasons.
Continue Reading Budding Development: States Requiring Employers to Tolerate Medical Cannabis Use

On November 8, 2016, Maine voters approved “Question 1 – An Act to Legalize Marijuana” (“the Act”), which allows for, among other things, the recreational use of marijuana. The Act contains within it an anti-discrimination in employment provision, which is effective today, February 1, 2018, making it the first law of its kind in the nation because it protects employees and applicants from adverse employment action based on their use of off-duty and off-site marijuana.
Continue Reading Maine Employees Now Protected From Repercussions of Off-Duty Marijuana Use