Medical Marijuana

Subscribe to Medical Marijuana via RSS

Closing a gap in Hawaii’s medical marijuana law, a new law sets up a regime of vertically integrated grow facilities and retail dispensing licenses for the delivery of medical marijuana to “cardholders” in Hawaii. The stated intent of the new law, signed by Governor David Ige on July 14, 2015, is to ensure a commercialized…

Taxpayers cannot take deductions for business expenses associated with operating a medical marijuana dispensary, according to a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Olive v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, No. 13-70510 (9th Cir. July 9, 2015).

In 2012, the United States Tax Court assessed penalties and fines against San Francisco’s Vapor…

In a long-awaited and highly-anticipated decision, the Colorado Supreme Court unanimously upheld an employer’s termination of an employee who tested positive on a drug test due to his off-duty use of medical marijuana. Interpreting Colorado’s “lawful activities statute,” the Court held that the term “lawful” refers only to activities that are lawful under both state…

Georgia became the twenty-fourth state to enact a medical marijuana law. On April 16, 2015, Governor Nathan Deal signed legislation that immediately legalizes the use of a low-potency form of cannabis oil for medicinal uses. The new law, House Bill 1, known as “Haleigh’s Hope Act,” permits patients suffering from cancer, Crohn’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s…

Buried in the $1.1 trillion federal spending bill for 2015 — which Congress approved last weekend and which President Obama signed into law on December 16, 2014 — is a measure stating that federal funds may not be used by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to prevent certain states from implementing medical marijuana laws. …

A Michigan appellate court has held that an employee who holds a state medical marijuana card is not disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits after the employee has been terminated for failing a drug test, where the employee received a positive test result for marijuana or its metabolites.  Thus, the question we posed earlier this year,…

Minnesota’s new Medical Cannabis Act, signed into law on May 29, 2014, differs from many other state medical marijuana laws in that it narrows the kind of medical cannabis permitted.  It also offers considerable protections to applicants and employees in the workplace.

The law does not cover marijuana that can be smoked.  It defines “medical…

A New Mexico intermediate appellate court has affirmed a workers’ compensation judge’s determination that an employer and its workers’ compensation carrier are required to reimburse an employee for costs associated with the purchase of medical marijuana.  Vialpando v. Ben’s Auto. Servs. and Redwood Fire & Casualty, 2014-NMCA-32,920 (N.M. Court of Appeals, May 19, 2014).…