NCBA WEBINAR
NCBA Presents: Let’s Make a Federal Case of It (HIA v. DEA)
Seats are filling up fast for the first of our 2018 Webinar Series, Let’s Make a Federal Case of It (Hemp Industries Association v. DEA). Register here today!
The webinar will address pending federal litigation and will be presented by Bob Hoban, Managing Partner at the Hoban Law Group and lead counsel on the case. The case addresses a December 2016 DEA ‘Final Rule’ that classifies cannabis-derived extracts, such as CBD oil, as a Schedule 1 narcotic. Arguments before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled for February 15, 2018. Register here!
Annual members receive a 50% discount off of the listed price, and Lifetime and Sustaining members may attend the 2018 webinar series at no cost.
CLE credits will be provided in select states. Individuals that wish to seek credit outside of one of the selected states may apply for individual credit from their state with support from NCBA.
Apply for an NCBA Committee Today!
NCBA is excited to announce that committee and regional representative positions are now open for application. Visit our website for more information!
FEDERAL
Title: Congressmen: Rescinding marijuana banking guidance would be ‘dangerous and imprudent’
Author: Cannabist
Date: 17 January 2018
Extract: Reps. Ed Perlmutter, Denny Heck and 29 other congress members wrote the director of FinCen to urge continued assistance for cannabis businesses
COLORADO
Title: Colorado Members of Congress Side With Hemp Over DEA in Federal Appeals Court
Author: Westword
Date: 18 January 2018
Extract: Several Colorado representatives have put their names on a brief supporting the industrial-hemp industry in federal appeals court. Representatives Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter and Jared Polis have all sided with the Hemp Industry Association in its battle with the Drug Enforcement Administration, attaching their names to an amicus brief supporting the HIA’s claim that the DEA’s stance on cannabis extracts violates federal laws allowing production and distribution of hemp products.
FLORIDA
Canadian-listed marijuana company buys Florida MMJ license holder for $48M
GEORGIA
Title: AJC poll: Georgians back medical marijuana expansion
Author: Atlanta Jnl Constitution
Date: 17 January 2018
Extract:
More Georgia voters than ever support changing state law to allow harvesting and distribution of medical marijuana, according to a poll by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Over three-quarters of those surveyed said Georgia’s medical marijuana program should be expanded, an increase from previous years. This year’s AJC poll showed that 77 percent want greater access to medical marijuana, compared with 71 percent last year and 73 percent in 2016.
Meanwhile, approval of marijuana legalization for recreational use also reached new heights, with 50 percent of respondents backing legalization, compared with 46 percent last year.
ILLINOIS
Judge Orders Illinois Officials to Add Intractable Pain to MMJ Program; Stalled While State Appeals
LOUISIANA
Title: Louisiana could lose medical marijuana
Author: The Maroon
Date: 17 January 2018
URL: https://www.loyolamaroon.com/10015974/showcase/louisiana-could-lose-medical-marijuana/
Extract: Philip Dynia, chairman and associate professor of political science at Loyola, says that Louisiana cannot legalize medical marijuana as long as federal law deems it illegal.
“The Constitution is pretty clear, and the courts have generally understood that if a state law conflicts with a federal law, the federal law has precedence because it is supreme.” said Dynia. “Louisiana can only legalize [marijuana] in the sense that ‘we’re not going to prosecute anyone here in Louisiana’.”
MAINE
Maine Regulators Move to Delay Social-Use Cannabis Provisions Until 2023
NEVADA
Title: Weed delivery, samples, pesticides: what you should know about Nevada’s new pot regulations
Author: Reno Gazette Jnl
Date: 17 January 2018
Extract:
A year into Nevada’s legal recreational marijuana market, more new rules are coming online.
They likely won’t be the last.
The Nevada Tax Commission on Tuesday approved 256 pages of permanent marijuana regulations expected to go into effect on March 1. The regulations dictate standards for the adult-use marijuana industry, including how businesses should label, package, deliver, test and store marijuana.
The regulations address many gray areas not covered by the November 2016 ballot measure, Question 2, which legalized recreational marijuana but left many questions about how a legal market would operate. Since the language of the law cannot be changed for three years, the state has to create regulations that fill in the blanks.
“In talking to my counterparts, and just what I have learned over the past year, this process will be evolving,” said Deonne Contine, director of the Nevada Department of Taxation. “There will likely be legislative and regulatory change to these regulations for years to come.”
OREGON
Title: Industrial Hemp Can Now Go Through the Recreation Cannabis Supply Line So What Does This Mean for Oregon’s Producers
Author: Portland Mercury
Date: 17 January 2018
Extract: Industrial hemp regulation has been going through a series of rapid shifts since 2016, when the Oregon legislature adopted a two-tier system that allowed for the registration of industrial hemp growers (producers) and handlers (processors). At the time, only hemp handlers could sell industrial hemp products. This changed last year, when Governor Kate Brown signed into law SB 1015, which allows industrial hemp to enter into the recreational cannabis supply line.
Just before the new year, the OLCC adopted amendments to its administrative rules on cannabis that implemented SB 1015, providing much needed guidance on the new hemp regime. First and foremost, the term “industrial hemp” refers to any cannabis plants with a THC concentration below 0.3 percent. Hemp growers and handlers can apply to the OLCC for an industrial hemp certificate ($500 per year, plus a $250 application fee) to transfer hemp to recreational processors, and handlers can also receive a certificate to transfer their hemp concentrates and hemp extracts to recreational processors.
PENNSYLVANIA
Title: Pennsylvania Opens State’s First Medical Marijuana Dispensary in the Lehigh Valley
Author: NBC Philadelphia
Date: 17 January 2018
Extract: “Welcome to the 21st Century,” Tony Iannelli, CEO and president of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said as he ushered in the opening of Pennsylvania’s first medical marijuana dispensary Wednesday morning.
Located on an otherwise quiet street in Bethlehem, Keystone Canna Remedies looks like any other new business. There are no pot leaf signs or smelly odors lingering in the air. This is not a West Coast-style dispensary and everything about Keystone Canna Remedies points to the very professional nature of Pennsylvania’s nascent program.
