A federal judge on Thursday agreed to schedule oral arguments in a case from major U.S. marijuana companies that are seeking to shield in-state cannabis activity from federal enforcement. The businesses have said in their lawsuit against the federal government that the prohibition of marijuana has \u201cno rational basis,\u201d pointing to officials\u2019 largely hands-off approach to the recent groundswell of state-level legalization.<\/p>\n
The new order, from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts\u2019s Western Division, comes following the companies\u2019 request for oral argument earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n The in-court arguments will be held on May 22 at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n \u201cThe case presents multiple constitutional questions and concerns matters of great importance both in the Commonwealth and nationwide,\u201d the cannabis companies said in their request for the court to schedule the meeting. \u201cOral argument will allow for a meaningful review of these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n The suit against the federal government\u2014Canna Provisions v. Garland<\/em>\u2014is being led by multi-state operator Verano Holdings Corp.<\/a> and the Massachusetts-based cannabis businesses Canna Provisions and Wiseacre Farm, along with Treevit CEO Gyasi Sellers. Plaintiffs are represented by the law firms Boies Schiller and Flexner LLP and Lesser, Newman, Aleo and Nasser LLP.<\/p>\n Litigator David Boies\u2014whose list of prior clients includes the Justice Department, former Vice President Al Gore and plaintiffs in the case that led to the invalidation of California\u2019s ban on same-sex marriage\u2014is leading the suit.<\/p>\n Boies said in a letter this month to Judge Mark G. Mastroianni, an Obama appointee, that oral arguments \u201cwould be particularly useful for addressing points raised for the first time in Defendant\u2019s reply brief, including whether the Controlled Substances Act\u2019s (CSA) bar on intrastate marijuana can be upheld as an attempt to regulate \u2018\u201dmarijuana tourism.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n An earlier statement from the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the government \u201ctakes no position on the request for oral argument.\u201d<\/p>\n At issue in the case is the degree to which in-state cannabis activity affects interstate commerce, with the government arguing that cannabis legalization attracts out-of-state tourists<\/a>.<\/p>\n DOJ argued in a filing earlier this month that \u201cit is rational to conclude that the regulated marijuana industry in Massachusetts fuels a different kind of marijuana-related interstate commerce: marijuana tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs the Supreme Court held decades ago, Congress has the authority to regulate businesses that cater to tourists from out of state, even if the businesses\u2019 transactions occur wholly in-state,\u201d DOJ said in the brief.<\/p>\n Plaintiffs, meanwhile, contend the Constitution\u2019s Commerce Clause should preclude DOJ from interfering in state-legal activity because it is regulated within a state\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n The case is unfolding against the backdrop of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) review into marijuana scheduling under the CSA<\/a>. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has recommended moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III.<\/p>\n And while the Biden administration has maintained that people should not be criminalized over possession or use of marijuana<\/a>, DOJ has continued to fight reform efforts in courts, including this current case on broad prohibition, as well as litigation challenging the ban on cannabis consumers\u2019 gun right<\/a>s.<\/p>\n Key Congresswoman Says \u2018Now Is The Time\u2019 To Pass Marijuana Banking Bill, Despite McConnell\u2019s \u2018Concerns\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo elements courtesy of rawpixel<\/a> and Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Judge Schedules Oral Arguments In Marijuana Companies\u2019 Lawsuit Challenging Federal Prohibition<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A federal judge on Thursday agreed to schedule oral arguments in a case from major U.S. marijuana companies that are seeking to shield in-state cannabis activity from federal enforcement. The businesses have said in their lawsuit against the federal government that the prohibition of marijuana has \u201cno rational basis,\u201d pointingContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74638"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74638"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74639,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74638\/revisions\/74639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Judge Schedules Oral Arguments In Marijuana Companies\u2019 Lawsuit Challenging Federal Prohibition<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"