Although efforts to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use failed to win majority support prior to the end of the legislative session, both the New York State Assembly and New York State Senate have approved a significant decriminalization bill.  The bill, which Governor Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign, generally (1) reduces penalties for small-scale cannabis possession and (2) provides for automatic expungement of certain low-level cannabis related criminal records. The bill includes the following key…

New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes announced on Tuesday that she is planning to introduce a bill later this week that would not only legalize adult cannabis use, but would also provide the ability for those previously convicted of low-level cannabis-related offenses to have their criminal records expunged.  Majority Leader Peoples-Stokes’ proposal goes a step further than legislation previously under consideration, which would provide only for the sealing of such records.  Expungement is…

Since the passage of the New York Compassionate Care Act (“CCA”) in July 2014 and the subsequent launch of the medical cannabis program in January 2016, New York employers have begun facing new legal challenges arising from the decriminalization of medical cannabis.  Specifically, employers need to understand their obligations (if any) to reasonably accommodate medical cannabis use and their rights to discipline employees for cannabis use.  With Governor Cuomo’s recent announcement that New York will…

Recently, in Wild v. Carriage Funeral Holdings, Inc., Docket No. A-3072-17T3, 2019 WL 1371206 (App. Div. Mar. 27, 2019), the New Jersey Appellate Division reversed the trial court’s dismissal of a discrimination complaint based on the employee’s legal use of medical cannabis under New Jersey’s Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act (“CUMMA”).  In so holding, the court noted that CUMMA “does not immunize what the [New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“LAD”)] prohibits” and held that…

After months of uncertainty and delay, the Governor and state legislative leaders have reached an agreement on a package of bills to legalize the adult use and sale of cannabis, expand the medical marijuana program and reform the expungement process for prior cannabis convictions in the State of New Jersey. On Monday, March 18, 2019, the Assembly Appropriations Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the foregoing bills which, as written, include the…

On March 5, 2019, Scott Gottleib, the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) announced his resignation as of the end of March, 2019. This follows his recent statements as to the effect of the changes in law with respect to hemp under the 2018 Farm Bill (the “Farm Bill”). Under the Farm Bill, hemp, which is now defined as the plant Cannabis sativa L. and all derivatives of the hemp plant, with extremely…

Earlier this week, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the “Department”) issued a statement banning the addition of CBD, otherwise known as cannabidiol, to food and beverage items offered for sale across New York City. As CBD-infused products continue to gain widespread popularity, the Department’s enforcement efforts have left restaurant and business owners somewhat perplexed and in search of answers. In apparent reliance on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) guidelines,…