What’s old is new again. The beginning of the year has brought us a sense of renewal, and taking a cue from Congress, we are revisiting some issues in a new light. Congress recently dusted off a bill that failed to pass in its previous forms for various reasons, including concerns about the bill’s constitutionality.
It’s that time of year again. Our annual round-up featuring some of the most read content on Budding Trends in the past year. This year’s edition has a little something for everyone: marijuana, hemp, mushrooms, state law, federal law, banking, intellectual property, and more!
Before we dive right in, we want to plug our January
As we close the book on 2025 and look ahead, we can’t help but feel a strong sense that we’ve been here before.
On the one hand, with the federal government potentially eradicating consumable hemp in November and the president ordering urgent action on marijuana rescheduling in December, it may not be an exaggeration to say
Are you not entertained? In a much-anticipated ceremony in the Oval Office, President Trump signed an executive order that (1) directs the attorney general to expeditiously reschedule marijuana to Schedule III and (2) instructs senior White House staff to work with Congress to revise the statutory definition of final hemp-derived cannabinoid products.
The first of
Sportscaster Jim McKay famously said that “our greatest hopes and worst fears are seldom realized.” When the federal government enacted a law that, on its face, would essentially eradicate the consumable hemp industry in America, my first reaction was great sadness for those I had gotten to know in the industry and those millions of
Shock. Grief. Dismay. Desperation. Just a few of the emotions I have encountered during countless phone calls and meetings with stakeholders in the hemp industry since the federal government enacted a law that would essentially ban all of the consumable hemp industry.
I have heard for years that Congress needed to “close the loophole” created
You’re awake. This is real. Yes, the federal government just passed a law that, if it goes into effect in its current form in a year, will essentially destroy the non-industrial hemp industry as it exists today. So now what?
I suspect it will take some longer than others to process the shock. While anti-hemp
“It’s not about ‘having’ time. It’s about making time. If it matters, you will make time.” – Unknown
Stakeholders in the marijuana space have been anxiously awaiting news about rescheduling marijuana since the Biden administration announced its intention to consider rescheduling in August 2023. And while we are less than a year into
It’s not always bad news when cannabis operators interact with the federal government. After all, the federal government largely allows marijuana companies to operate in an overwhelming majority of states without federal interference even though marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance under federal law.
But there does seem to be a common theme
Few areas of law have been able to expose the contradictions of federal cannabis policy quite like the Dormant Commerce Clause. The Constitution’s long-standing rule against state economic protectionism has recently found itself in the middle of cannabis licensing disputes. The result is a body of case law that is fractured, just like the state-by-state