Providing Honest, Reliable Business Counsel For 29 Years
(CNN)Jeff Sessions announced Thursday that he is rescinding the Cole memo, which reflected the Department of Justice’s relatively passive policy under the Obama administration since August 2013 on enforcement of federal cannabis laws. If Sessions intended to quell the enthusiasm of California’s cannabis business enthusiasts and government officials, he once again fell short. Michael Chernis Unlike announcements from the DOJ…
CLG Letter to City Council
by The Times Editorial Board Los Angeles voters want to legalize marijuana, and they don’t seem particularly concerned that it remains illegal under federal law. In November nearly two out of three voters in the city of L.A. supported Proposition 64, a statewide initiative to let adults grow, buy and use recreational marijuana. A few months later, voters overwhelmingly backed…
CLG Comments for LA City
By Jedamiah Wolf // Planet Experts The White House recently made some not-so-subtle hints about a federal crackdown on marijuana. Could the feds roll back the rapidly blooming end to prohibition? And what does this mean for the budding industry in states that have established medical and recreational markets? Planet Experts spoke with marijuana attorney Michael Chernis to get the…
by Amanda Paulson // CS Monitor Boulder, Colo. — Marijuana legalization made major advances Tuesday, with at least three states voting to legalize recreational marijuana and four states approving medical marijuana laws. Most notably, California, home to nearly 40 million people and by far America’s largest state economy, legalized recreational marijuana use. So did Nevada, Massachusetts, and, probably, Maine (with…
by Christopher Ingram // Washington Post Today the Associated Press finally called Maine’s marijuana ballot measure in favor of legalization. The ‘yes’ votes just squeaked by the ‘no’ votes with just a couple thousand votes to spare. In sum, reform of marijuana laws won in eight out of the nine states where it was put on the ballot, the strongest…
Opinion by Michael Chernis as published on San Francisco Examiner (link below) One major attraction of Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana, for many California policymakers was a potential $1 billion in tax revenues from a market estimated to grow to $7.6 billion by 2020. The tax revenue could be a big boon for youth, health, research, law-enforcement and environmental…
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by Michael Chernis // SF Examiner Even as California and other states consider expanding the legal availability of marijuana for recreational as well as medicinal use, there has been a concerted push by some to create new laws criminalizing driving under the influence of marijuana’s active ingredient, THC. But those marijuana-specific proposals, while intended to prevent dangerous driving, are flawed…