Turning Insight Into Action
North Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Advances Through State Senate, Moves to the House of Representatives for Consideration
The cannabis industry shows no sign of slowing down as state lawmakers continue the push to legalize medical marijuana across the country. As February draws to a close, eight states are grappling with bills to create medical cannabis programs. Among those eight is North…
COVID-19 Prompts Changes to Ohio’s Medical Marijuana Rules
Due to the unprecedented issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic, many different industries have had to change how they operate to comply with restrictive orders to help stop the spread of the virus. One of the industries that has been most affected by this…
Transfer, Administration, and Taxation Issues For Marijuana-Related Assets in Estate Planning
Legal cannabis is one of the fastest-growing markets in the United States. With eleven states permitting recreational use as of March 2020 and forty-seven states allowing some form of medicinal use, estimates project more than $23 billion in consumer spending on legal cannabis in…
Cannabis Partner Tom Haren Quoted in Marijuana Business Daily Article
https://mjbizdaily.com/regulators-for-cannabis-licensing-are-upping-enforcement/?fbclid=IwAR2xf3uQalf6Yk47j0IoYQXhZDHrLTSFKq3yZFo81F50p67EsFRUf8NW7As Excerpt from article: Tom Haren, partner at Ohio law firm Frantz Ward, sees the current regulatory trend a bit differently. More permitting issues popping up “I don’t know if they (regulators) are necessarily getting more assertive as much as the life cycle of…
Cannabis Industry Faces Another Obstacle as Tax Court Upholds Section 280E
In a blow to the American cannabis industry, the United States Tax Court found that Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) did not violate the Eight Amendment to the United States Constitution. Northern California Small Business Assistance Inc. v. Commissioner, 153 T.C….
Ohio Legislature Passes Bill Legalizing Hemp and Hemp-Derived CBD Products
Yesterday the Ohio General Assembly sent Senate Bill 57 – the bill to legalize the cultivation, processing, and sale of hemp and hemp-derived products – to the desk of Governor Mike DeWine for signature. Like most states, State Bill 57 delegates authority to the…
Administrative Control Lessens as New Amendments Take Shape
On July 23, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. in the West B & C Room, 31st Floor, Riffe Building, 77 South High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, there will be a public hearing concerning the Ohio Department of Commerce’s (“DOC”) proposed updates to the regulations of…
Hemp Legislation Introduced in the Ohio Senate
Over the past several months, we have been meeting with Ohio policymakers to assist in the development of sound hemp policy in Ohio. This work is starting to bear fruit. We predicted last week that legislation would be introduced soon in the General Assembly,…
Hemp in Ohio
As we’ve written about in the past, the recent passage of the Farm Bill is a watershed moment for hemp. The Farm Bill removed Hemp from the federal Controlled Substances Act and made the plant and its derivatives legal under federal law. Thus, under federal…
Seller Beware: State Agencies Starting to “Embargo” Ohio CBD Products
The confusion surrounding the treatment of CBD products in Ohio is causing disruption to businesses. Under federal law, hemp and its derivatives (like hemp-derived CBD) are no longer included in the definition of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act. As such, these products can…