Check out the Meet the Press interview with Governor Hickenlooper’s thoughts on the Trump administration’s stance on marijuana after his meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. His insight should be reassuring to the marijuana industry, but he explicitly stated that state-legal marijuana businesses that are not following the letter of state law should be prosecuted.
This is on the heels of a record setting $1.3 Billion in sales last year and threats over a federal crackdown on adult-use marijuana.
What does this mean?
If the trends hold, 2017 will be the third-year in a row for Colorado seeing dramatic growth. While there are numerous factors driving the increase, the linked…
Today, on 4/20, I was invited by the Academy of Hospitality Industry Attorneys (AHIA) to present on Colorado marijuana issues at the Spring 2017 meeting in Colorado Springs, CO. This presentation will take a look at the current marijuana market in Colorado as well as discuss national marijuana trends. For more details, please read here.
Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Earl Blumenauer introduced “The Path to Marijuana Reform” this week. As provided for in the executive summary linked in the previous sentence:
The Path to Marijuana Reform includes three bills that pave the way for responsible federal regulation of the legal marijuana industry, including:
…
Yesterday, Sean Spicer attempted to call out a difference between medical and recreational marijuana at the federal level. He clearly does not understand that ALL marijuana is federally illegal. Further, he made a poor and factually incorrect analogy by comparing the current opioid abuse crisis to marijuana use. Spicer ended his comments on recreational…
My esteemed colleague and frequent medical marijuana commentator, Fred Miles, was quoted in the NY Times article “When Retirement Comes With a Daily Dose of Cannabis“. Check this article out for a great read about the increasing number of older Americans living in assisted living communities and nursing homes using cannabis for relief…
, Winn Halverhout and Fred Miles were interviewed by Advisory Board about the main challenges facing providers related to medical marijuana, how the new administration might change the legal landscape, and more.
Check out the article here. Advisory Board is a best practices firm that uses a combination of research, technology, and consulting to improve…
Yesterday the DEA published a final rule providing for a new drug code for “Marihuana Extract” . The DEA states that this will allow them to track quantities of “Marihuana Extract” separately from marijuana to aid in the compliance with relevant drug treaties. This new rule is set to become effective on January 13, 2017. The…
There has been a lot of speculation about what a Trump administration, and particularly a DOJ lead by Jeff Sessions, will mean for our burgeoning Marijuana industry. The short answer is nobody knows, and given the fact that the Trump team seems intent on using obfuscation as a strategy, I don’t think we will…
California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine approved adult-use marijuana initiatives last night. Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas also approved medical marijuana initiatives. Unfortunately, Arizona failed to garner enough support to pass adult-use. Clearly, these votes are a watershed moment for cannabis reform in the United States. As I have stated before, California passing adult-use marijuana will likely signal the true beginning to the end of federal prohibition of marijuana. However, Donald Trump also pulled off a monumental victory for the GOP and won the White House which has created uncertainty for the industry.
What does this mean?
With the approval of adult-use marijuana in the states, the percentage of Americans living in states where marijuana use is legal for adults rose above 20 percent, from 5 percent. A recent Gallup Poll found nationwide support for legalization at 60%, the highest it likely has ever been. Florida passed its’ initiative by a 71% – Florida also voted for Trump.
As we all know, Trump is a wild card but he has not publicly taken any prohibitionist stance on cannabis. Trump recently was quoted as: “In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state-by-state,” Trump told The Washington Post. “… Marijuana is such a big thing. I think medical should happen — right? Don’t we agree? I think so. And then I really believe we should leave it up to the states.”
