Cannabis Law Group’s Medical Marijuana Legal Blog

It is now legal to cultivate industrial hemp in the state of California – maybe. Although Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has signed a groundbreaking measure that effectively legalizes industrial cultivation in the state, our California hemp lawyers know that it is contingent upon approval from the federal government. Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), author of…

When Bob Filner took office as mayor of San Diego, he issued a firm call to the city attorney’s office to back off in its action against medical marijuana dispensaries. And for a time, our California marijuana lawyers know, the city attorney’s office did just that, However, now that Filner has been forced into early…

The U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have all recently made announcements regarding pivotal policy shifts with regard to the approach toward marijuana cultivation, sale and consumption. Our California marijuana lawyers know that first, there was the announcement by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that his prosecutors…

In most places throughout the U.S., producing, selling and even consuming marijuana is still a serious crime, despite some exceptions made for regulated medicinal purposes and the landmark laws recently passed in Washington state and Colorado. However, attitudes toward the drug have shifted dramatically in recent years, with the Pew Research Center reporting that 52…

Once again, California state legislators have failed their constituents with the death of Assembly Bill 604, which would have reformed Proposition 215 – the landmark measure that made California the first state to allow legalized medicinal marijuana. But being first comes with its perils. There were many gaps in the regulatory process that we couldn’t…

The battle for safe, legal access to marijuana is not simply limited to those who require it medically or want to indulge for recreation. Currently, the wide-sweeping federal ban on the plant also encompasses the production of industrial hemp, a product that has proven incredibly versatile and useful. However, our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers know…

With marijuana now legal in D.C. plus 20 states – two of those for recreational purposes – there are a lot of investors that are seeing green. While many may have held off amid uncertainty regarding arbitrary federal enforcement action that appeared to be a constant threat, some may now feel emboldened by the recent…

As federal officials pledge to ease their vigorous prosecutions of those arrested for marijuana crimes, California’s legislators have come together to pass a bill that eases drug sentencing measures throughout the state. S.B. 649 provides prosecutors with greater flexibility to charge low-level, non-violent drug offenders with misdemeanors as opposed to felonies. Additionally, judges are also…

Some two dozen civil liberties advocates are publicly demanding a series of congressional hearings regarding the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s broad use of National Security Agency data and intelligence to build domestic criminal drug cases against Americans. Reuters had been the first to report last month that the DEA routinely served as an intermediary of…

One could be forgiven for believing that the shifting public opinion tides on marijuana’s Schedule I classification are a relatively new development. However, our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers know that this month marks 25 years since the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young, ruled on the various medicinal benefits of the…