Category: Cannabis Law News

For those of you who prefer to see it straight from the horse’s mouth here’s the press release CannTrust published 17 September 2019

According to the detailed statement of allegations released late Friday afternoon last week, the scheme dates back to January 2014, when Benjamin Ward, Peter Strang and Silvio Serrano allegedly made numerous false statements about their not-yet-incorporated pot company, dubbed Canada Cannabis Corp. (CCC), in a briefing for prospective investors. Among the allegedly false claims, the company said it had acquired a 45-per-cent stake in a horticultural lighting firm named Growlite Canada.

“Antonio Costa, 51, of Fall River, and David Hebert, 54, of Westport, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of extortion, conspiracy and making false statements. They were released pending sentencing.”

Under the rules, many would-be employees will no longer face pre-employment drug screenings. The order states: “Employees who are not in a safety-sensitive position will be tested for drugs only upon reasonable suspicion, or after an accident or incident. Thus, those employees not in safety-sensitive positions may find that they can use cannabis, with or without a medical card authorizing [it], so long as they are not impaired at work.”

Congressman Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), the Assistant Speaker of the House cosponsored the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act, HR 3884, which would end the prohibition of marijuana and creates a pathway for states to implement their own reforms, and introduced legislation, the Remove Marijuana from Deportable Offenses Act to end the practice of deporting immigrants for cannabis-related offenses.

A coalition of organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and Drug Policy Alliance is urging congressional Democratic leaders to delay a planned vote on a marijuana banking bill next week until more far-reaching legislation ending federal cannabis prohibition advances first. Reports Marijuana Moment

This just in over the weekend from MJ Biz, “House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, intends to put the SAFE Banking Act to a vote before the end of September, a staff member confirmed to Marijuana Business Daily on Friday.”

The bill submitted requires the attorney general to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, with the aim of increasing research on the drug’s effects.

Rusty Rumley, senior staff attorney for the National Agricultural Law Center, will outline the current regulatory landscape for industrial hemp in a Sept. 18 webinar that starts at noon. There is no cost to attend the webinar.

It’s taken a long time for a firm to stand up at the front of the queue and say this. It can only be to their advantage. This past week’s vape crisis is just the first of many we’d suggest.

Joy A. Strand, the executive director of the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, has resigned, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Professor McMillan’s Final Report on the Review of the Act was tabled in the Australian Parliament, Thursday 5 September 2019. The main recommendation, “Amend the Act once again to establish a single licence scheme for cannabis production.”

The rules, set to take effect in October say cannabis edibles will have a limit of 10 mg of THC per package.

They write, “Marijuana Business Daily obtained a copy of the draft rules ahead of their release from a source who requested anonymity. The proposals are subject to change.”

Work Group for implementation of Senate Bill 19-224. In preparation for the Division’s Work Group meeting on Friday, September 13

Marijuana Moment reports, “In an interview on the podcast Engage with Andy Busch that was released on Friday, ABA CEO Rob Nichols said that his group will be actively lobbying for the bipartisan cannabis banking bill in order to provide clarity to financial institutions that currently worry that taking on marijuana-related clients will put them at risk of federal penalization.”

His father was sent to jail for Cannabis dealing ! “After his election nine years ago, the now-former county attorney went on a crusade against the plant — prosecuting medical marijuana patients for concentrates, calling a marijuana-using veteran “an enemy” whom he has “no respect for,” and forcing marijuana users into an allegedly unconstitutional drug diversion program that he is currently being sued over.” Reports the Phoenix New Times.