Washington Lawyer - April/May 2018 - 26

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Some of the cannabis products available at Remedy Columbia, a medical marijuana dispensary
in Maryland.

After his reelection, President Obama told ABC
News that the federal government had "bigger
fish to fry" than jostling with states over marijuana
laws.

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In 2013 Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole
directed the country's 93 U.S. attorneys to avoid
prosecuting state-legalized cannabis. The policy,
known as the Cole Memo, gave the cannabis
industry some reassurance that the federal government was not interested in going after state legalized
production and sale.

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In addition, Congress in 2014 passed the
Rohrabacher-Farr Amendment, which barred
the U.S. Department of Justice from using its
resources to enforce federal cannabis laws in
situations involving state-authorized medical
marijuana. As Washington Lawyer went to press,
the amendment, renamed RohrabacherBlumenauer, was set to expire if not
reauthorized.
In January, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded
the Cole Memo. That decision, Horn says, could
dissuade investors and others from jumping into
the cannabis industry, especially if they were "on
the fence" before.

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Saphira Galoob, who started a legislative and
lobbying firm dedicated to the cannabis industry,
says "many lawmakers are unaware of what is

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26 WASHINGTON LAWYER

APRIL/MAY 2018

happening in the states, unaware of the regulatory paradigm and the extent of seed to sale
oversight."
"Legislators don't always know, in states where
cannabis is legal, how controlled every aspect of
the industry is, nor are they aware of the state and
local taxes that come with the cannabis industry,"
Galoob says.
Galoob and other cannabis industry lobbyists are
intent on educating legislators on "how robust and
modern these state programs are."
Lobbyists for the cannabis industry are going to
"fight like hell to make sure that the state programs
- these laboratories of democracy - can flourish,"
Galoob says.
Meanwhile, lawyers who practice cannabis law and
their clients are, admittedly, in a bit of legal limbo.
Says Horn: "We're not stopping what we're doing,
but we're watching and waiting to see how the
battle between the federal government and the
states shakes out."

Anna Stolley Persky is a regular contributor to
Washington Lawyer.

https://www.osioffices.com http://www.dcbar.org

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