Cannabis Business Legal News

On December 3, 2019, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued joint guidance to financial institutions providing or seeking to provide financial services to hemp-related businesses. The joint guidance clarifies FinCEN’s position that banks serving hemp-related businesses need not file suspicious activity reports (“SARs”) based solely on their customers’ otherwise legal hemp-related business. However, the ...

Earlier this week, on November 20^th, the House of Representatives judiciary committee approved a bill –The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act (“the MORE Act”) – that would legalize cannabis at the federal level. The next step in the process will be a formal floor vote in the House, assuming the Act is not marked by any other committees for review. This is the first time a congressional committee has passed a bill that would legalize cannabis at the federal level. The Act will now need to pass the House vote before moving on to the Senate for ...

Spurred by the opioid crisis, Illinois expanded its medical marijuana program to make it easier for patients to obtain registration cards, and to allow patients suffering from conditions that have traditionally been treated with opioids to obtain medical cannabis as an alternative.

This week, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner—who is generally thought to be hostile to the state’s medical marijuana program—signed into law the Alternative to Opioids Act of 2018. This legislation eliminates the requirement that patients and caregivers undergo a criminal background and ...

A regulatory alert (the “Alert”) issued by the National Credit Union Administration (the NCUA) this week makes clear that the NCUA supports banking relationships between its members and lawfully operating hemp-related businesses. The Alert reminds Federally Insured Credit Unions that pursuant to the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (more commonly known as the “2018 Farm Bill”) hemp is no longer a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and is thus no longer federally illegal.  However, the Alert also reminds its members that the actual ...

Gov. Pritzker Signs Law Expanding Illinois’ Medical Cannabis Program & Makes it Permanent

Until recently, Illinois’ medical cannabis program was technically a pilot program and it even had an expiration date in 2020. This changed when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a new medical cannabis law for Illinois, which will also legalize recreational adult-use cannabis on January 1, 2020. 

The new medical cannabis law had bipartisan support in the Illinois legislature and votes cast earlier this year showed lawmakers’ desire to not only make the medical cannabis program permanent, but ...

Capping off a historic legislative session, last Friday afternoon, the Illinois House voted to approve the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (“CRTA”), which will legalize the use of cannabis for recreational purposes by individuals 21 and older. The State Senate approved the bill earlier in the week. Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has championed the legalization of adult use recreational cannabis, is expected to sign the bill into law. Legal sale (from licensed sellers) and possession of cannabis is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2020. While Illinois is the 11^th state to legalize ...

Illinois legislators recently returned from a break and the legalization of cannabis in Illinois appears to be taking center stage. State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, an established cannabis advocate and one of the state’s leaders in the push for legalization, is hoping that legislation will be introduced in full detail this week. A prior version of the bill, which was much less detailed than the version expected to be introduced in the coming days, was introduced in January and passed by the Senate Executive Committee last month.

The legislation has received support from new Governor J.B ...

While many following the rise of the cannabis industry in the United States have seen CBD-infused food and drink products hitting the market, what many may not know is that CBD-infused products remain illegal at the federal level. CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a compound in cannabis which has recognized medical value, but does not produce the high or euphoria created by the more commonly known cannabis compound THC. Congress legalized CBD derived from hemp in December of 2018.

Last summer, the FDA approved Epidiolex, the very first CBD medication cleared for patient use in the ...

As many following the state of cannabis law in Illinois know, State Rep. Kelly Cassidy and State Sen. Heather Steans have been working on a proposal for the legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis for some time. They introduced a bill in 2018 but decided not to pursue passage until 2019. Their bill remains in the works, as Rep. Cassidy and Sen. Steans continue to negotiate with state lawmakers, governmental bodies, and Governor Pritzker. While there are some indications that an updated version of the Steans/Cassidy bill will be reintroduced as early as April, State Rep. Carol ...

In what might be its best chance of success yet, Congress is set to hold hearings on legislation addressing the problem of banking cannabis related businesses, including the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2017 or the “SAFE Act of 2017.”  The SAFE Act of 2017 (H.R. 2215 and S. 1152) was originally introduced in the house back in 2017, but since then has earned a growing number of supporters from both sides of the aisle and in both the House and the Senate. If signed into law, the SAFE Act of 2017 would be a monumental step forward for the ever-expanding cannabis business in the ...