Cannabis Business Legal News

Spurred by the opioid crisis, Illinois expanded its medical marijuana program to make it easier for patients to obtain registration cards, and to allow patients suffering from conditions that have traditionally been treated with opioids to obtain medical cannabis as an alternative.

This week, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner—who is generally thought to be hostile to the state’s medical marijuana program—signed into law the Alternative to Opioids Act of 2018. This legislation eliminates the requirement that patients and caregivers undergo a criminal background and ...

A regulatory alert (the “Alert”) issued by the National Credit Union Administration (the NCUA) this week makes clear that the NCUA supports banking relationships between its members and lawfully operating hemp-related businesses. The Alert reminds Federally Insured Credit Unions that pursuant to the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (more commonly known as the “2018 Farm Bill”) hemp is no longer a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and is thus no longer federally illegal.  However, the Alert also reminds its members that the actual ...

Gov. Pritzker Signs Law Expanding Illinois’ Medical Cannabis Program & Makes it Permanent

Until recently, Illinois’ medical cannabis program was technically a pilot program and it even had an expiration date in 2020. This changed when Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a new medical cannabis law for Illinois, which will also legalize recreational adult-use cannabis on January 1, 2020. 

The new medical cannabis law had bipartisan support in the Illinois legislature and votes cast earlier this year showed lawmakers’ desire to not only make the medical cannabis program permanent, but ...