Read Time: 5 Minutes

Date: 06-29-2020

Source:  https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/FinCEN_Hemp_Guidance_508_FINAL.pdf

With the recent increase in legalization of recreational and medicinal marijuana use, many people have become interested in starting or investing in marijuana businesses. Something to keep in mind, though, is that people who are interested generally need to reside in the states in which the businesses are owned and operated. In Colorado and Oregon, for example, this means that if you would like to start or invest in a marijuana business, you need to have lived there for at least two years before applying for the appropriate business licenses. You may not invest in (let alone start) the business while living in another state or country. In Washington, investors only need to have been residents for three months, but their companies all have to be formed in state as well.

Another major point: no one may buy marijuana in a state where it is legal and take it to another state, even another state where it is legal. This constitutes drug trafficking, a federal offense, which law enforcement officials are on greater alert for due to the increasing number of states that allow legal marijuana use.

These links provide information on individual states’ policies regarding founding or investing in marijuana businesses.

http://www.bouldercountylaw.com/practice-areas/marijuana-business-licensing-faq#cannot-apply

http://www.greenrushconsulting.com/#!washington-legal-marijuana/c1vsw

http://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/growing-marijuana-legally-in-washington.html

http://www.oregon.gov/oha/mmj/pages/apply.aspx

One of the common assertions about marijuana is that many of the people in jail or prison for drug related offenses were convicted, and are serving lengthy sentences, for “simple possession” of marijuana. This classification refers to offenses involving small amounts of marijuana (enough to classify as only being intended for the owner’s personal use), generally carried by non-violent, first-time offenders. While it is true that a conviction for simple possession can entail at least jail time, if not prison time, judges most often give first-time offenders more lenient punishments, which can include fines and community service. Many first-time marijuana offenders may not even be arrested, let alone punished.

Additionally, most people who are sent to prison for marijuana possession are also sent for at least one other, more serious or violent, crime. It is misleading to claim that people are serving years (or life) long sentences for simple possession, when most, if not all, of those people are serving those sentences for possession while also serving sentences for much more severe crimes. State and federal sentencing guidelines generally do not encourage incarceration for the possession of personal-use amounts of marijuana, let alone do they encourage (or even allow) sentences of more than a few months for it. Reports on the federal and state prison systems routinely show that of all the people imprisoned for simple possession, almost all of them are serving those short sentences while also serving harsher sentences for harsher crimes, such as drug trafficking, participation in drug trafficking organizations or other organized crime, or other violent crimes.

Listed below are links to several of these reports.

https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=204299

http://www.nadcp.org/sites/default/files/nadcp/Facts%20on%20Marijuana%20-%20NADCP_1.pdf

https://learnaboutsam.org/the-issues/marijuana-and-whos-in-prison/

Project SAM has published a new report providing an overview of the major impacts of increased marijuana use that Colorado and the state of Washington have seen four years after legalizing its recreational use.  Topics discussed in the report include increased youth use, rises in homeless populations, increased crime rates, and impacts on businesses and the workforce.  Read the full report at the Project SAM website.

The DEA recently made several significant announcements regarding marijuana.  Most importantly, the agency’s acting administrator has denied two separate petitions to reschedule marijuana.  Under the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana has a schedule 1 classification; this means that it has high potential for abuse, and no currently accepted medicinal use.

The agency also announced that it will allow more research facilities to cultivate marijuana, greatly expanding access to the drug for researchers.  Until now, only the University of Mississippi has been allowed to cultivate and supply marijuana to researchers, so this change will help remove that bottleneck and hopefully expand our understanding of marijuana and its effects.