Cannabis & the Law

We have developed this blog specifically to track the creation of the regulatory framework for the cannabis industry in Massachusetts and provide insight on legal issues of concern to potential operators.

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By: Foley Hoag LLP

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Austin A.B. Ownbey
Jesse Alderman
Allison Anderson
Neil Austin
Stephen Bartlett
Scott Bloomberg
Kelly Caiazzo
Frederic Cohen
David Geiger
Alexander Gray
Foley Hoag
Jonathan Keselenko
Michael Licker
Michael McQueeny
Jeremy Meisinger
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Alyssa Pratt
Andrew Smith
Courtney Suggs
Snehal Trivedi

Latest from Cannabis & the Law

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What do baseball umpires, war and peace, cannabis, and relative error all have in common? A lot in the opinion of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division (“Appellate Division”), which issued a ruling today related to the 2018 Request for Applications (“RFA”). While much is addressed in the seventy-five (75) page decision, the net effect is this: the New Jersey Department of Health (“DOH”) – or, as transitioned, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission…
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Regulators from 19 states have joined together in forming the Cannabis Regulators Association (“CANNRA”). The goal of CANNRA is to share institutional knowledge and regulatory best practices in order to assist federal, state, and local jurisdictions that have approved or are considering the legalization of cannabis. CANNRA is not an advocacy group, nor does it take a position either for or against cannabis legalization, but instead is designed as an informational clearinghouse to help regulators…
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As the saying about real estate goes, it’s all about “location, location, location.” The same rule holds true and carries substantial weight when determining where to locate your business in the competitive New Jersey cannabis licensing process – both for medical, and as anticipated to continue in the adult use cannabis program. As a result, a common question we as practitioners are asked is “what towns should I be looking in?” So why does location…
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The race for who will be America’s next President remains a cliffhanger as of early evening on November 4. Many observers thought this election would be a clear-cut win for former Vice President Biden but turned out to be significantly closer than most people imagined with the outcome still unknown and with many votes still left to be counted. However, one election outcome that was unanimously clear is the one that occurred in five states…
In a recent decision, the Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for Region 1 (covering most of New England) found that a majority of employees of a cannabis cultivation and processing facility were “agricultural laborers” within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and therefore not subject to the jurisdiction of the NLRB.  The decision means that the union can attempt to organize the workers pursuant to Massachusetts law, which…
There has been a significant amount of political punditry over the last several months about an electoral “Blue Wave” coming this November. President Trump is at historical lows of job approval and favorability and much of today’s public polling points towards a Democratic sweep at the ballot box in two weeks’ time. In fact, according to FiveThirtyEight, the online data and analytical website, former Vice President Biden has an 87% chance of winning the Presidency;…
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New Jersey is an emerging cannabis marketplace with a litigation problem. Litigation is not uncommon for competitive application rounds, and unfortunately, New Jersey’s 2019 request for applications (the “2019 RFA”) for twenty-four (24) medical alternative treatment centers (“ATCs”) (inclusive of four (4) vertically integrated permits, five (5) cultivation permits, and fifteen (15) dispensary permits) has been held up for close to a year due to a challenge by a few disqualified entities that…
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Cannabis is on the ballot in New Jersey for the November 3, 2020 election (the “Referendum”), but what does that actually mean? Assuming it passes, does that mean I can grow at home? Open my own shop? Sell at my leisure? This article will briefly address what the Referendum does address, what it does not, and where the State, citizens, and entrepreneurs go from here. As many are painfully aware, the history of adult use…
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The Garden State’s cannabis marketplace is finally on the verge of coming into full bloom. While New Jersey has been perpetually on the verge of something big in cannabis over the last several years, where is New Jersey now and where is it going? With a medical marketplace poised to eclipse over 100,000 patients in the coming months, and the voters of New Jersey on the precipice of passing adult-use cannabis by referendum on November…
The Green Mountain state has taken a significant step toward legalizing recreational cannabis.  On September 17, 2020, the Vermont House of Representatives adopted the Conference Committee report for S.B. 54, an act relating to the regulation of cannabis.  The Conference Committee has had custody of the bill since early this year and was tasked with reconciling the significant differences between the bill and a similarly-intentioned, but substantively different, bill passed by the Senate in…