Articles Posted in Marijuana Lawyer

A medical marijuana regulation lawyer knows there have been dramatic shifts in public perception of marijuana in recent years. As medical benefits have become more apparent and more states have moved towards legalizing cannabis for medicine and even for recreation, public opinion has evolved. A new poll shows how dramatic the change in perception of marijuana has been, with 58 percent now supporting full legalization of cannabis products and not just legalization for medicinal use.

With broad public support and mounting evidence suggesting limited risks and substantial potential medical benefits for many patients, there is no reason for marijuana to remain a Schedule I drug. A shift in the law should follow the change in public attitudes towards cannabis, so marijuana use can be more effectively regulated and so Americans stop being criminalized for behavior that the majority of the public believes should be permitted.
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An initiative by Colorado lawmakers to impose tighter regulations on legal marijuana edible products may soon result in a bright red stop sign on the packaging, and a ban of the word “candy” on the labels.

A recent draft of new rules by marijuana regulators seeks to limit the desirability of these products among children. That’s why barring the word “candy” is important, even on items like gummy chews or suckers.

Additionally, the packages would need to have a standard indication the product contains marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, THC. Regulators have introduced a proposed one, a red octagon stop-sign shape embossed with the letters “THC.” Not only would manufacturers need to print this symbol on labels, they would also have to find a way to stamp it onto the edible product itself. That way, if it’s ever out of the package, someone would be alerted to the difference.
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Although possession, use and distribution of marijuana has been made legal in various forms throughout the country, many employers have policies that do not reflect this.

Take for example the television news anchor in Oregon who was fired after testing positive for the drug. A new report indicates the morning weekend anchor at a smaller ABC affiliate was involved in a minor accident while she was on assignment. Per company policy, the anchor was required to undergo a drug test.

She failed it. She was fired.

However, the anchor-turned-activist, 25, says she was totally sober while she at work. She insists she used the drug several days prior to that shift. This is completely plausible, given the way marijuana is processed by the body. Unlike alcohol, which courses through a person’s system very quickly, marijuana lingers. It can be detected for days or sometimes even weeks in the body’s of those who use it regularly.
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With a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana set for 2016, California is on the verge of a rapidly-expanding industry.

Medicinal marijuana has been good for the state’s economy, as well as the health of its people. Recreational marijuana may be even better.

The executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Association reports some 100,000 jobs have been created as a result of the medical marijuana industry. This is even in spite of the various governmental crackdowns through arrests and civil forfeiture actions over the last several years. Legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes, he said, would easily create as many as 1 million jobs over the course of an eight-year span.

The ballot measure would open the doors for more than just more cultivation operations and dispensaries. We would see more testing labs. There would be packaging companies, wholesale firms, businesses that would process the drug, operations that would extract it and companies that would specialize in edible products.
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In 2013, Illinois joined the ranks of states that approved the legalization of medicinal marijuana. However, the process of implementing that law has been a bumpy one.

Eighteen months after the law first passed, the state’s governor granted dozens of permits to select businesses to grow and sell the drug. It may be many months more before patients are able to gain access to the drug through the narrowly-drawn pilot program.

Part of what took so long to issue licenses, according to the new governor, was that his office had to evaluate existing applications to make sure the state wasn’t vulnerable to legal liability due to procedures that were unclear. In all, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office issued 18 medical marijuana grow licenses and 52 sales licenses. This was out of 214 applications.
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The number of states granting at least some measure of approval for marijuana sales, possession and use may soon increase, as several bills were recently introduced by state lawmakers in various pushes across the country.

It seemed unfathomable just a few years ago that the majority of states would someday allow the cultivation and distribution of marijuana, particularly given the fact the drug remains illegal at the federal level. But today, there are 23 states that allow medicinal marijuana and four – plus the District of Columbia – that have approved recreational use of the drug.

Currently, there are varying marijuana legalization measures pending in Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Tennessee, Vermont and Texas. Each is different in nature and in scope, but collectively, these measures reflect the turning tide of acceptance when it comes to marijuana, both as medicine and as an acceptable form of recreation, akin to alcohol.
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A pending $500,000 civil lawsuit alleges negligence, nuisance and trespassing and has resulted in a temporary, court-ordered injunction – all because one man smoked marijuana in the privacy of his own home.

Generally, one’s home is considered sacred in terms of privacy. And that’s the argument being made by the 53-year-old defendant, who argues he should be able to do as he pleases inside his own four walls.

His neighbors next door, on the other hand, allege his habits are a danger to their health and that of their young daughter, and that he has made it difficult to enjoy their newly-renovated home. The two properties share a common wall, and they say the marijuana smoke creeps into their daughter’s playroom. Additionally, the woman is pregnant with the couple’s second child, and fears the second-hand smoke could pose additional health hazards to the fetus.
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Quietly, two congressmen separately filed two bills in the House recently that, together, would effectively spell the end of federal marijuana prohibition.

The bills, introduced by two Democrats – one from Colorado, the other from Oregon – would legalize the drug and lay out a plan to regulate and tax the drug at the federal level.

The first bill, Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, would remove marijuana from the list of scheduled controlled substances. It would also shift oversight of the drug to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms from the Drug Enforcement Administration. Finally, it would require the drug be regulated in much the same way alcohol is now.
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California medical marijuana patients are prescribed the drug because they are sick. Yet, because they take the drug, they may be barred from certain life-saving treatments – namely, organ transplant.

This is an especially cruel twist of law, one that some California legislators hope to rectify with Assembly Bill 258, also called the Medical Cannabis Organ Transplant Act.

Introduced by Assembly member Marc Levine (D-San Rafael), the measure is sponsored by the pro-marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.
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In November, District of Columbia voters made their choice clear: They wanted to join the handful of states legalizing the growth and possession of marijuana in small amounts.

However, D.C. is unique in that unlike in most states, the free will of voters within the district is not the deciding factor. Even if 100 percent of the citizenry in the district voted in favor of the measure, Congress will still have the final say.

And in this case, Congressional Republicans successfully inserted a last-minute provision into a large federal spending bill that effectively barred the overwhelmingly Democratic populace from spending any tax dollars to enact the measure. This was all late last year, and many assumed this would be the end of it.
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