“Compromise” sometimes gets a bad rap. And history teaches us that there can be bad compromises. But as your resident glass-is-half-full contributor who has also been closely following debate over access to consumable hemp...more
5/9/2025
/ Alabama ,
Cannabis Products ,
Government Agencies ,
Hemp ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Licensing Rules ,
Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State Legislatures
As the hallowed cannabis holiday for stoners-turned-business-entrepreneurs falls upon us, we find ourselves in the shifting sands of change in the cannabis industry as usual. Not surprisingly, many states have seen...more
4/20/2025
/ Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Dispensaries ,
Government Agencies ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Legalization ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Medical Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
Political Campaigns ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
To paraphrase the legendary Dave Chapelle, in the midst of impersonating Rick James, “cannabis is a hell of a drug.” Thankfully I don’t mean that in the same sense as Mr. Chapelle/James did. I mean that marijuana and its...more
If you haven’t seen Ted Lasso, you need to do that immediately (after reading this). In the final episode of the first season, Ted Lasso – an American football coach hired, for reasons that don’t matter here, to coach an...more
Advocates and stakeholders in the medical cannabis world of Alabama are desperate. And as it is so often when we are faced with a desperate situation, we make well-intentioned but ultimately flawed decisions....more
2/12/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Alabama ,
Cannabis Products ,
Licenses ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
“The overhead view is of me in a maze.”
I don’t know what it says about me that the great Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall of Phish fame were able to encapsulate my feelings so neatly – and the feelings of so many...more
1/28/2025
/ Alabama ,
Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Business Licenses ,
Compliance ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Legalization ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government
A few weeks ago, someone at a holiday party asked “Whitt, why doesn’t Budding Trends take on the weighty legal issues of the day and instead resort to cheap pop culture references and puns?” I thought about responding with a...more
1/14/2025
/ Banking Sector ,
Compliance ,
Controlled Substances ,
DEA ,
Dispensaries ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Private Equity ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Schedule I Drugs ,
State and Local Government ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Liability ,
Tax Reform
It’s the first week of January, and you all know what that means in the blogging game: It’s time to make wild predictions about the coming year. As always, making predictions is hard, particularly when they’re about the...more
1/6/2025
/ Agribusiness ,
Banking Sector ,
Business Licenses ,
Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Dispensaries ,
Farm Bill ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Cultivation ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
SAFE ,
State and Local Government
2024 was a banner year for cannabis lawmakers and business operators. From Kamala Harris advocating for marijuana reforms to California’s clash of titans between hemp and marijuana markets, there was no shortage of drama in...more
12/31/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
DEA ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Dispensaries ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Farm Bill ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Cultivation ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Recreational Use ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures ,
Trump Administration
Trademark law protects businesses’ brand identities and helps prevent consumer confusion. The U.S. trademark system operates at both federal and state levels. Federal registration through the United States Patent and...more
12/11/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Farm Bill ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legalization ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trademark Application ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
Part of the reason we started a Cannabis Industry team at a Southeastern-based law firm before any Southeastern state had adopted a marijuana program was because we had a hunch that the expansion of cannabis would eventually...more
12/6/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Dispensaries ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Healthcare ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Cultivation ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government ,
THC
On November 7, 2023, Ohio approved an adult-use marijuana measure that allows individuals age 21 and older to grow marijuana and possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana in non-extract form and 15 grams of marijuana extract. A...more
I would love to hear from our award-winning readers if they are aware of a scenario when doing something illegal is legal because it’s illegal. Another federal court in California ruled last week that the dormant Commerce...more
When you live in the cannabis world, you have to keep your head on a swivel. While most areas of the law see incremental changes over years — if not decades — cannabis developments come by the day if not the hour.
In the...more
No, it’s not (just) a cruel play on words. Last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced a much-anticipated public hearing on the proposal to reschedule marijuana from early December until the first quarter of...more
11/15/2024
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Cannabis Products ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
DEA ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Marijuana ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Schedule I Drugs ,
Trump Administration
The title of this post comes, of course, from The Who’s classic track “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” This post analyzes whether there is cause for worry on the part of cannabis operators – both marijuana and hemp – under a second...more
11/12/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Farm Bill ,
Hemp ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Cultivation ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Trump Administration
I adore the film (and, as always, I stress the word “film”) Trading Places. It has it all: Eddie Murphy hitting his prime, a wonderfully smug Dan Akroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis doing her thing, and it’s all wrapped up in a...more
10/31/2024
/ Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Controlled Substances ,
CUTPA ,
Dispensaries ,
Farm Bill ,
Federal v State Law Application ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government
We at Budding Trends have devoted thousands of words (and nearly as many pop culture references) to the escalating tension between the marijuana and hemp industries. It seems that to many in the cannabis industry this is a...more
10/11/2024
/ Agribusiness ,
Cannabis Products ,
Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Hemp ,
Hemp Related Businesses ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Plant Based Products ,
Recreational Use ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform
Avid readers know we have speculated that the legalization of psychedelics as a prescription medicine was “closer than ever.” Unfortunately, for proponents of the legalization of psychedelics like MDMA, progress is rarely a...more
As we at Budding Trends reported last week, the DEA is set to finally accept the recommendation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the...more
5/7/2024
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Cannabis Products ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
DEA ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Final Rules ,
Judicial Review ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Marijuana Related Businesses ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
OMB ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Schedule I Drugs ,
State and Local Government
Having spent nearly every day of the last three years thinking about Alabama’s medical cannabis licensing, and the past year closely following the seemingly endless litigation that continues to this day, I took special note...more
It’s not a joke. On April 1, 2024, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that voters will decide in November whether Florida will become the 24th state to legalize adult-use marijuana. In the face of significant opposition that...more
4/11/2024
/ Ballot Measures ,
Cannabis Products ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Florida ,
General Elections ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Recreational Use ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures
There is a great line in the wonderful film Charlie Wilson’s War, where Charlie Wilson (played remarkably by the inimitable Tom Hanks) describes the successful, if relatively covert, involvement of the United States...more
Following the lead of President Joe Biden’s pardon of simple marijuana possession, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy recently announced plans to issue a series of pardons for those convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession...more
If you know either of us, you know neither of us would pass up a chance to say, “I told you so.” As we looked ahead to 2024 in January, we speculated that psychedelics could be legalized as a prescription medicine. Now, not...more