Long before anyone even thought about the possibility of legalizing marijuana for recreational use, or even medical marijuana in the U.S., cannabis has been legal in Amsterdam. This led many college students to travel to the city and visit the fabled coffee shops where they could not only purchase marijuana,…
When Canada legalized the recreational use of marijuana, the government set out to drive all black market cannabis sellers out of business. They did this not through more rigid enforcement methods, but by making legal marijuana as cheap, if not cheaper, than buying it from a traditional dealer. This was…
With the rollout of Proposition 64 on Jan. 1, Californians are beginning to enjoy legal adult-use marijuana. Some cities, though, decided not to legalize recreational cannabis, either because residents or leaders voiced opposition or because they wanted to wait to see how it played out in other areas of the…
Even in states where medical marijuana is legal under the relevant state law, it is still illegal under federal law. This conflict of law manifests in many ways, most recently in a directive in Hawaii, where medical marijuana users in Honolulu are being asked to voluntarily surrender any firearms they…
Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996 as our state was the first to legalize. Since that time, more than half of the states and the District of Columbia have legalized either medical marijuana, recreational marijuana use, or both. California, while not leading the legal recreational use movement,…
When the voters of California passed Proposition 64, it allowed for the legal use, sale and distribution of marijuana for anyone 21 years of age and over. The Proposition also allowed the state to tax the sale of marijuana and to enact regulations over the cultivation and sale of cannabis.…
From grow operations to dispensaries to high end paraphernalia that works with smartphones, there is seemingly no end to the growth potential of the cannabis industry. According to a recent news article by USA Today, a wealthy cannabis company has just purchased a remote California town to create what they…
While medical marijuana is legal in Los Angeles pursuant to state law, and the use and sale of recreational marijuana is going to be legalized in 2018, it is still illegal as it a Schedule One controlled substance on the U.S. Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (USCSA). This means that…
The Orange County government controls the unincorporated areas of the county. According to a recent news article from the Los Angeles Times, Orange County officials are taking steps to ban the sale of marijuana and the distribution of marijuana within its jurisdictional limits. A new ordinance was preliminarily approved by…
While we are now the verge of having a legalized recreational marijuana industry in California, many in Los Angles fear they won’t be able to join this growing and prosperous industry due to having a conviction involving marijuana on their record. As discussed in a recent article from Civilized, marijuana…