Federal Policy

After more than a year of campaigning, we can be pretty sure where President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris stand on the cannabis issue — but what about other members of the incoming Biden Administration?

Following narrow victories by Georgia’s two Democratic candidates for the Senate during this week’s runoff election, Democrats are expected to take control of the U.S. Senate in 2021, opening up the MORE Act and other federal cannabis bills to a vote.

Between multiple state legalization wins and the election of a hesitantly pro-reform presidential candidate, the 2020 election solidified a stronger future for the US cannabis industry.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has introduced a federal bill aimed at boosting the US hemp industry. The proposal would raise the THC threshold from 0.3% to 1% and would require hemp-derived products to be tested post-production, not before.

The U.S. Senate has approved a bill that would expedite the process of getting DEA approval to possess cannabis for research purposes. The House passed similar legislation last week.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill that would make cannabis research easier in states with legal markets.

The U.S. House has voted in favor of the MORE Act, a landmark legalization bill that would end the federal prohibition of cannabis.

The House Rules Committee voted yesterday to advance the MORE Act — which would end the federal prohibition of cannabis — positioning the landmark bill for a full floor vote later this week. If passed, the legislation is all but guaranteed to fail in the GOP-controlled Senate.

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives will vote next week on the MORE Act, which aims to federally deschedule cannabis and expunge prior cannabis convictions.

The U.S. House is set to vote on the MORE Act, which would decriminalize cannabis at the federal level and expunge convictions for non-violent cannabis crimes, after delaying the vote in September to focus on coronavirus relief.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a high-profile cannabis case that challenged the constitutionality of federal cannabis prohibition. Advocates behind the case said they were disappointed, but not surprised.

Federal lawmakers have introduced a measure that would give the cannabis industry access to federal disaster relief programs after wildfires in the west destroyed multiple cannabis farms.

Arizona medical cannabis patient Nathan Freddy was charged with possession after a Bureau of Land Management ranger smelled cannabis in his pack while he was hiking on federal land.

House Democrats say they will delay their vote on the MORE Act, which would federally legalize cannabis, in order to focus on the coronavirus pandemic relief bill.

Multiple cannabis advocacy groups and industry organizations have filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a potential Supreme Court case challenging the constitutionality of cannabis prohibition.

The U.S. Navy has banned sailors and Marines from using hemp-based personal care products including lotions, soaps, and shampoos out of concern that they may contain THC; servicemembers are already banned from ingesting hemp-based products.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced it would mark up the Medical Marijuana Research Act this week; the bill proposes streamlining the cannabis research process.

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote next month on the MORE Act, which would federally legalize cannabis by removing the plant from the Controlled Substances Act. It will be the first time either chamber of Congress will have officially considered ending cannabis prohibition.

The Republican National Committee Chair said that the legal status of medical cannabis is an issue best left for individual states to decide.

Kamala Harris, Joe Biden’s pick for the second half of the Democratic presidential ticket, said in their first joint interview that the Biden-Harris Administration will pursue a national policy of cannabis decriminalization.

Federal prosecutors in Canada have been directed to avoid prosecuting drug possession cases unless the crime poses a major public safety risk.

The attorneys behind a potential landmark lawsuit challenging the federal prohibition of cannabis as unconstitutional are calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case.

Following a spate of EVALI cases in 2019, the vaping-related lung disease has received little attention in the months since COVID-19. One year later, we’re left wondering: what happened, how did it happen, and what could have been done differently?

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled that a drug conviction is not necessarily automatic grounds for deporting an immigrant who is in the U.S. on a green card.