On Thursday, December 21, 2018, our president officially signed and passed the 2018 Farm Bill. This bill ends the prohibition of hemp in the United States, making it a historical day in our history. The passage of this bill will begin the regrowth of hemp as an agricultural crop in America. As important as this is, there is still much work to be done beginning at the state level to protect our rights and freedoms when it comes to growing, producing, and distributing hemp products that contain CBD. Last week we covered what the Farm Bill means for sports, and today we’re going to look at some... Read More

It was a monumental week for the cannabis industry as Congress approved the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, also referred to as the farm bill. The passing of this bill, once officially signed by the President, will legalize the production, processing, and sale of hemp. This will remove hemp from the Controlled Substances Act and make hemp just another commodity to be overseen by the US Department of Agriculture. This is a huge deal for hemp farmers interested in growing hemp at scale to be used for consumer goods like food, textiles, paper, plastics, and building materials, but what does the... Read More

BREAKING: This just in. The city of Dallas, Texas – yes, Texas – voted yesterday to relax penalties for marijuana possession. This “cite and release” ordinance provides that anyone caught with possession of less than four ounces of pot will receive a ticket but will not be arrested. Baby steps in the land of some seriously whack-a-doo right wingers. Big congrats to my home town! Now back to our regularly scheduled program: Weed Law 101, Part 2: Congressional Whiplash. As we learned in Part 1, the federal government used racial fear and prejudice to first criminalize marijuana in 1937.... Read More

Part 1: Blame It On Mexico Marijuana law and policy is complicated. As with all political issues, understanding where we have been historically is crucial to deciding where we should go. A little history helps put things in perspective and contributes to crafting reasonable drug laws. I present to you the first installment of Weed Law 101. This country’s on and off again love affair with cannabis started long before this nation was formed. Beginning as early as the 1600s, North American settlers encouraged hemp production for the manufacture of rope, sails, and clothing. (By hemp, I mean the... Read More

This article may come at you a little late this year, being that Thanksgiving was last week, but it is never too late to be thankful, or dankful this season. I normally like to use this column as an outlet to bemoan about something that most people would bend over backward for. It can be fun to sit back and air my grievances about the weed industry, after all, it is the landscape I see every day. Fortunately, the industry I work in is hot right now, so it affords me this outlet. No grievances today though, just love. I am dankful for all the amazing growers out there. Indoor farmers and outdoor... Read More

I bet if you were asked what country was the first to legalize cannabis from production to consumption, you probably would not think, “duh, Uruguay!” But it’s true. Although recreational drug consumption has never been outlawed in this open minded, liberal country, the cultivation and sale of cannabis remained forbidden. This month, however, pot smokers in Uruguay became the first in the world to sign up to buy state-produced weed for recreational use. How the law works is somewhat fascinating. Legal marijuana will only be available at pharmacies. Those wanting to purchase legal cannabis... Read More

We have a cat fight, folks! Meow! Remember last week when Attorney General Jeff Sessions lowered a cloud of despair across the country with his revival of the War on Drugs? Well, a bipartisan, forward thinking group in Congress have introduced legislation to counteract Sessions. Let’s discuss. Our regressive Attorney General directed federal prosecutors to charge people with the most serious provable offenses to trigger mandatory minimum sentences. As we’ve discussed, these sentences provide for “one-size-fits-all” sentences of pre-determined lengths. They fail to consider the individual... Read More

Welcome all, to the CannaFitness weekly column, where you will learn all you need to know about cannabis and fitness, and get an exclusive inside look into this exciting emerging industry. Being a sponsored cannabis athlete myself, I know how fast CannaFitness is moving through the world. Even though the concept of using cannabis in association with athletics and fitness may seem new to most, I know first hand they’ve had a close relationship for a very long time. Only recently, in the past decade especially, has this topic slowly gained public momentum as the taboo and stigma of cannabis use... Read More

As of this week, Vermont became the first state legislature to pass a bill to legalize recreational marijuana. That may be surprising to you, since eight other states currently have legal recreational weed. The difference? Those states passed public ballot initiatives. So, if signed by Republican Governor Phil Scott, Vermont will remove penalties for possessing one ounce of marijuana or less and allow adults to keep two mature plants. Ahhh, so nice to see a legislature opening its eyes to reasonable drug policy. Alas, in the same week of continued progress at the state level, “Debbie Downer”... Read More

Before I get too far with this blog entry, I want to clarify at the outset that I’m only discussing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Multiple states have additional laws in place to provide more encompassing employee protections. I am also not talking about people showing up to work stoned. With those caveats, let’s learn a little weed law. The ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against employees due to a disability. A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.  Employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations... Read More