Key Takeaways:

• The positive momentum for federal cannabis reform continues: shortly after the momentous rescheduling announcement, the Senate Banking Committee unveiled a revised, bipartisan version of the SAFE Banking Act.
• The Committee will vote on the bill as early as September 27, 2023.
• Rescheduling and SAFE each have a real likelihood of success in the months ahead.

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Fresh on the heels of intense optimism over the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation that cannabis be rescheduled,… More

On Friday, September 8, the Maryland Cannabis Administration (MCA) Office of Social Equity released additional information for its upcoming initial licensing round, including the social equity verification portal, application timeframe and deadlines, and the number of licenses available per county. The first round of licensing is limited to Social Equity Applicants.

Social Equity Verification Portal

Potential applicants who previously submitted the Cannabis Business Licensing Interest Form were granted access to the Social Equity Verification Portal on September 8,… More

As will be discussed in greater detail by the Foley Hoag’s cannabis practice team on its webinar scheduled for September 13, 2023, the New York Cannabis Control Board (“CCB”) and Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”) took substantial and meaningful steps to open up the full-adult use market in short order. As many may be aware, adult-use cannabis licenses to this point have been restricted to businesses meeting very limited threshold requirements (based on cannabis convictions,… More

On September 8, 2023, the Cannabis Control Commission (“CCC”) held a hearing to discuss its proposed regulations, which were published in the Massachusetts Register on August 16. The regulations, which we discussed in a previous post here, fundamentally change the rules regarding Host Community Agreements (“HCAs”). The new regulations, if adopted as expected, will:

• Require all license applicants and existing licensees to include copies of their HCAs as part of any initial and annual renewal applications to the CCC filed on or after May 1,…

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As previously discussed by Foley Hoag’s attorneys in its Cannabis practice, a rescheduling of cannabis from a Schedule I Controlled Substance to a Schedule III Controlled Substance will provide cannabis businesses with the ability to claim tax deductions and a host of other potential benefits, but it most likely will not open the courthouse doors for federal bankruptcy protection absent participation in other regulatory regimes like DEA registration.… More

Will the United States Attorney General, via the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) follow the recent recommendation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III? The plain language in the United States Controlled Substances Act (the “CSA”) compels DEA to do so, but there is speculation that the DEA could disregard the last week’s historic HHS Recommendation because of the Attorney General’s limited duty under Section 811(d)(1) of the CSA.… More

Key Takeaways:

Maryland’s eligibility criteria to be considered a social equity applicant:

• An interactive map of the Disproportionately Impacted Areas in Maryland, qualifying public schools that remain open and institutions of higher education, is available on the Office of Social Equity’s (OSE) website.
• The OSE also provided the lists as PDFs: public schools, higher education institutions,…

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In light of the August 30, 2023 historic recommendation from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III, a multidisciplinary group of attorneys from Foley Hoag’s nationwide Cannabis practice provides the following outlook and analysis of what’s next:

Rescheduling Q&A

1)    What happened?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made a recommendation to the U.S.… More

Bloomberg News is reporting that the Department of Health and Human Services has recommended to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, to whom power is delegated under the Controlled Substances Act by the Attorney General, that cannabis be re-scheduled to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act. The recommendation is apparently based on a scientific and medical review by the Food and Drug Administration ordered last year by President Biden.… More

A group of four military veterans filed a lawsuit two weeks ago in New York State Supreme Court against the New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (“OCM”), claiming that the agency’s rules that prioritize applicants with prior cannabis convictions for dispensary licenses violate the NY Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (“MRTA”).

In our recent blog post, we discussed Fiore et al.… More