
Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services recommended to the Drug Enforcement Administration that cannabis be rescheduled on the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”) from a I to a III. At the same time, the SAFER Banking Act is winding its way through the Senate. And as of October 26, the cannabis industry will try to end prohibition through the courts. Cannabis litigation at this level has been tried before and failed. This time, however, may be different for a few important reasons (not the least of which is that renowned litigator David Boies is leading the charge). I’ve been practicing in this space for 14 years, and this is really the first time that all three branches of government are seeing the cannabis movement all at once, which is exciting and should give the industry some much needed hope.