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Rachel LaBruyere is a privacy and litigation associate in Bradley's Charlotte office. She regularly advises clients on CCPA and GDPR compliance issues. Before joining Bradley, Rachel served as a Legal Intern in the United States Attorneys' Office and an Appellate Litigation Intern in the Office of the General Counsel at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Prior to law school, Rachel spent more than five years managing digital strategy for technology companies.

Last week, we wrote about the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) February 13, 2023 response letter stating that delta-8 THCO and delta-9 THCO – two forms of THC acetate ester (THCO) – are illegal controlled substances under federal law. The DEA’s decision centered on THCO’s “synthetic” nature. The DEA explained that “[d]elta-9 THCO and delta-8 THCO

In the summer of August 2022, and again in February 2023, a North Carolina attorney wrote to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ask about the status of certain cannabinoids under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). His question was whether THC acetate ester (THCO), a lab-created substance used to synthetically derive THC delta-8 and delta-9

Ah, South Carolina. Its siren song has tempted cannabis advocates for years with its diversity – political, geographic, geologic, and otherwise. But to date, nada.

That may change soon, as the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act has been refiled with procedural fixes designed to avoid the same fate as the version filed in the 2022

We have long suspected that North Carolina may be the next great cannabis market. In describing North Carolina as “the sleeping giant of the South,” we wrote recently:

From Murphy to Manteo, North Carolina is a state that will have a lot to offer the medical marijuana industry at some point in the future. The

On May 4, 2022, South Carolina’s medical marijuana bill — SB 150, also known as the South Carolina Compassionate Care Act — was ruled unconstitutional by the state’s House of Representatives.

The constitutional challenge was mounted by Rep. John McCravy, who argued that because the bill involves the creation of a new tax, specifically on

Attorney General Merrick Garland has reiterated that the Department of Justice will not prioritize prosecuting marijuana use, a position that Garland expressed during his confirmation hearings. In remarks in front of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on April 26, 2022, Garland held firm in this position, stating that prosecuting the possession of marijuana is “not