The increasing number of states legalizing marijuana for both recreational and medical use raises critical questions regarding if and how insurance coverage should be made available with respect to auto or other general property and casualty insurance claims involving damages or injuries that occur when a person is under the influence of marijuana.
Continue Reading Ohio Appellate Decision Tackles Excluded Coverage For Marijuana Use
It’s no secret that pockets of the cannabis industry are experiencing financial distress, and this is generating fear and concern for marijuana licensees and their lenders as well.
Continue Reading Podcast: Cannabis and Bankruptcy, Ep. 1: Considerations for Individuals
Today, nearly four-fifths of the United States have regulated medical marijuana markets. Nearly half of the United States, consisting of twenty-one states along with Washington, D.C. and Guam, have acted to legalize recreational adult-use marijuana. However, the possession, distribution, and sale of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, which means any contact with money that can be traced back to state-legal marijuana operations could still be considered money laundering and expose a bank to significant legal, operational, and regulatory risk.
Continue Reading Marijuana & Banking: What’s the Hold Up? Part 1 – Conflicting Legal Landscapes
Recently an individual employed by Trulieve Inc., who was responsible for grinding and handling cannabis at Trulieve’s cultivation site in Massachusetts, died due to asthma-related complications following exposure to “occupational quantities of whole and ground cannabis,” according to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hazard letter issued in June 2022. Under a settlement agreement with OSHA, Trulieve agreed to study the potential hazards of ground marijuana dust.
Continue Reading Employers Subject to Workplace Safety Laws Despite Marijuana’s Illegal Status
As Ohio’s medicinal marijuana industry grows and the public’s attitude towards marijuana continues to improve, various organizations and lawmakers have begun to lay the groundwork to – at long last – legalize adult use cannabis in Ohio in 2023.
Continue Reading The Times They Are A-Changin’: Ohio May Legalize Adult Use Marijuana in 2023
With an increasing number of states passing laws to protect employees who utilize marijuana off-duty, employers throughout the country are presently tasked with redesigning their marijuana-related policies and practices to avoid the risk of suffering discrimination, retaliation, and other claims for wrongfully taking adverse action against an employee for their marijuana legal use.
Continue Reading Budding Workplace Marijuana Impairment Laws Put Employers in a Bind
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) will open the application period for Social Equity marijuana retail licenses on March 1, 2023. The application period will close on March 30, 2023.
More than 40 marijuana retail licenses that were forfeited, canceled, revoked, or never issued will be made available to social equity applicants in specific jurisdictions across the state.
Continue Reading WA Application Period for Social Equity Marijuana Retail Licenses Opens March 1
MedMen – a Canadian corporation, and one of the best-known names in marijuana – recently made headlines for pulling an old trick: attempting to avoid making nearly $1,000,000 of lease payments based on marijuana’s illegal status under federal law.
Continue Reading MedMen’s Illegality Defense: Will the Court Take the Case?
If you work for a cannabis business, then bankruptcy relief may not be available to you, according to the In re Blumsack decision out of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Continue Reading Decision Blocks Ch. 13 Bankruptcy for Cannabis Business Employee
With an increasing number of states passing laws protecting employees who utilize marijuana, employers throughout the country are presently tasked with redesigning their marijuana-related policies and practices to avoid the (significantly increased) risk of suffering discrimination, retaliation, and other costly claims. With many relevant state laws going into effect throughout the next twelve months, the clock is ticking.
Continue Reading Employers: Clock is Ticking to Update Marijuana Policies