{"id":56542,"date":"2022-08-12T10:12:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T18:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/08\/12\/nebraska-legal-panel-says-lawyers-can-invest-in-medical-marijuana-businesses\/"},"modified":"2022-08-12T20:45:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T04:45:31","slug":"nebraska-legal-panel-says-lawyers-can-invest-in-medical-marijuana-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2022\/08\/12\/nebraska-legal-panel-says-lawyers-can-invest-in-medical-marijuana-businesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska Legal Panel Says Lawyers Can Invest In Medical Marijuana Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cMerely investing in a cannabis company\u2026does not in our opinion rise to the level of a criminal act, nor does such conduct reflect adversely on the lawyers honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness to practice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marijuana may be illegal in Nebraska, but a lawyer from the Cornhusker State is free to invest in cannabis operations in states where it is legal, a state ethics board is advising.<\/p>\n

The eight-member Nebraska Lawyer\u2019s Advisory Committee, which issued an advisory on Thursday, usually weighs in on technical matters concerning the practice of law, such as whether conflicts of interests exist and the duty to represent clients.<\/p>\n

But the legalization of medical marijuana in adjacent South Dakota prompted a couple of questions from a Nebraska attorney recently.<\/p>\n

Rules of conduct<\/strong><\/p>\n

The attorney, who was not named in the advisory opinion, asked if they could invest in a medical cannabis business in another state, where such marijuana is legal, without violating the state\u2019s Rules for Professional Conduct for lawyers. Another question: If they couldn\u2019t invest, could their spouse?<\/p>\n

The lawyer also wondered if they could advise a business owner who had workers who lived in a state, like South Dakota or Colorado, where marijuana was legal, on employment issues?<\/p>\n

A split decision<\/strong><\/p>\n

The committee, in a split decision, said that such investments would not violate the code of conduct.<\/p>\n

The majority opinion noted that medical marijuana is legal in 37 states and that Congress has blocked federal authorities from enforcing the federal prohibition against marijuana in states that have deemed it legal. Nineteen states, two U.S. territories and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cMerely investing in a cannabis company, which presumably operates within the bounds of the applicable state laws, does not in our opinion rise to the level of a criminal act, nor does such conduct reflect adversely on the lawyers honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness to practice\u2026\u201d said the majority opinion<\/a> from the advisory committee.<\/p>\n

It noted that ethics committees in two other states, New York and Washington State have reached similar conclusions, and that the committee had no power to advise non-lawyers, such as spouses.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court should weigh in<\/strong><\/p>\n

But dissenters on the committee said the since marijuana is illegal in Nebraska and technically illegal federally, it would be an ethical breach.<\/p>\n

However, the dissenters\u2014who were not identified\u2014suggested that the questions be referred to the Nebraska Supreme Court so it could address the issue \u201chead on by making a rule upon which Nebraska lawyers can rely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court, the dissenters noted, is the \u201cfinal authority\u201d on ethical issues involving lawyers.<\/p>\n

Mark Weber with the State Counsel for Discipline\u2019s office declined to name the attorney who asked for the advisory, or who on the eight-member committee were in the majority or minority, saying that such information was confidential.<\/p>\n

Rare dissenting opinion<\/strong><\/p>\n

He did say that it was the first lawyer advisory he could recall that included a dissenting opinion.<\/p>\n

Norfolk attorney David Copple, who chairs the advisory committee, did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Thursday.<\/p>\n

This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Schumer Touts Senate Marijuana Research Bill Among \u2018Historic Progress\u2019 Under Biden As Legalization Measure Lingers<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post Nebraska Legal Panel Says Lawyers Can Invest In Medical Marijuana Businesses<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Nebraska Legal Panel Says Lawyers Can Invest In Medical Marijuana Businesses<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMerely investing in a cannabis company\u2026does not in our opinion rise to the level of a criminal act, nor does such conduct reflect adversely on the lawyers honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness to practice.\u201d By Paul Hammel, Nebraska Examiner Marijuana may be illegal in Nebraska, but a lawyer from the CornhuskerContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56543,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56542\/revisions\/56543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}