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Legislation (Pending)

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As discussed in our previous post, Mexican lawmakers had until the end of October to issue regulations on cannabis. Nonetheless, and even though a preliminary draft bill for cannabis legalization was recently introduced in the Congress, the Mexican Senate now believes that additional time will be needed to reach an agreement on how cannabis should be regulated. On October 28, 2019, three days prior to the deadline, the Mexican Senate requested an extension from the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice. The extension was granted through an Accord dated October 31, 2019. Pursuant to the Accord, published on the Supreme Court’s…

Cannabis was high on Australia’s regulatory agenda in September, with two significant developments. In our last post we discussed the tabling of Professor John McMillan AO’s Final Report in Parliament on 5 September 2019, which recommended extensive amendments to the regime for cultivation, production and manufacture of medicinal cannabis in Australia. In this post we discuss the move to legalise the personal possession and use of small amounts of cannabis in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). On 25 September 2019, the ACT Legislative Assembly voted to legalise the personal possession and cultivation of cannabis under the Drugs of Dependence (Personal…

Our prior post discussed the rapidly evolving cannabis regulatory environment in Mexico.  As the Supreme Court-ordered deadline for lawmakers to end cannabis prohibition approaches, Senators raced against the clock and unveiled last week a preliminary draft bill of a law that would regulate nearly the entire cannabis industry. The preliminary draft bill, titled the “Law for Cannabis Regulation”, comprises 74 articles and 11 transitory provisions that integrate various legislative proposals, including the prior leading bill from Mrs. Olga Sánchez Cordero (former Senator and Judge, and current Minister of Interior). Among other things, the Law for Cannabis Regulation: Allows (i) recreational,…

Executive summary Professor John McMillan AO’s Final Report of the review of Australia’s medicinal cannabis framework under the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967 (Cth) (ND Act) was tabled in Parliament on 5 September 2019, ahead of the 29 October 2019 target date. A link to the Final Report is here. The review was conducted on the extensive amendments made to the ND Act in 2016, which established a regime for the cultivation, production and manufacture of medicinal cannabis in Australia. The Final Report contains 26 recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the regulatory regime including: a new single licensing…

Welcome to the Global Cannabis Compliance Podcast Series. Because we have received so many requests from readers for more information about the topics we have been covering, we have decided to start a podcast series featuring in-depth discussions with experts. Like the blog, the podcast series will cover all aspects of cannabis compliance including existing laws and proposed legislation in various countries and U.S. states, significant court cases and judicial decisions, enforcement trends, and best practices in compliance. If you have any suggestions for podcast topics, please let us know. Episode 1 – On the Cannabis Industry in Africa Countries…

Cannabis legalization is proceeding in Mexico after several years of no action. In 2017, Mexico published an amendment to its General Health Law that allowed THC use for medical purposes and ordered the government to implement secondary regulations to support the new law. At first, nothing happened. However, in August 2019, the Supreme Court of Justice in Mexico granted an amparo (constitutional) injunction to an underage child suffering from West syndrome, a condition that required CBD and THC dosing as part of his medical treatment. The Court determined that the child´s right to health services was violated because the Ministry…

The cannabis industry operates at a disadvantage vis a vis other industries because Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code prohibits business expense deductions for businesses that “traffic” in federally controlled substances, including cannabis. As a result, cannabis companies pay taxes on gross rather than net profits. In the latest defeat for cannabis companies in the Tax Court, Boulder Alternative Care, LLC (“Boulder”), a Colorado dispensary, lost its bid to obtain ordinary business expense deductions for its legal operations (Docket No. 16495-16). Boulder argued that it was entitled to those deductions because Colorado, not federal, law controls. Boulder’s position was…

On September 25, 2019, the House of Representatives passed the “Secure And Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019” or the “SAFE Banking Act of 2019” (H.R. 1595) by a vote of 321 to 103. If adopted, the SAFE Banking Act would, among other things, create a safe harbor for depository institutions that provide banking services to state compliant marijuana-related businesses and also remove proceeds from state compliant cannabis transactions from the definition of criminal proceeds under U.S. anti-money laundering laws. This would dramatically change the industry, opening a whole range of legitimate services to state compliant businesses, and would also…

Many countries across the globe are in the process of decriminalising the medical and recreational use of Cannabis, and Africa is no exception to this growing trend. Governments across the continent are hoping that the decriminalisation of the plant will aid them in their quest to diversify their economies and generate transactions in hard currency. The Cannabis industry is one with a multi-billion-dollar footprint, and businesses are already benefiting from growing, distributing and exporting medicinal Cannabis. According to The Consumer Staples Report by Barclays, the global Cannabis market could be worth up to USD 272 billion in the coming years. …

Backers of a cannabis banking bill are accusing one another of undermining its prospects for success by pushing for amendments that would expand its scope in different directions.  The SAFE Banking Act (H.R. 1595) would allow financial firms to work with state-licensed cannabis businesses without running afoul of federal anti-money laundering laws.  The bill introduced by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) has attracted 206 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle and advanced out of committee in March.  Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) introduced a companion version in the Senate (S. 1200) that has 30 other co-sponsors.  However,…