The rescinding of the Cole memo does not suggest the sky is about to fall for the U.S. cannabis industry, but it should be a wake-up call for those who have been playing fast and loose with their business operations.
By Laura Bianchi, Rose Law Group Partner and Director of Medical Cannabis
The legal cannabis industry was recently rocked to its core by the announcement that Attorney General Jeff Sessions would be rescinding the so-called “Cole memo” and several other Obama-era legal directives suggesting the federal government would leave state-by-state cannabis reforms more or less alone. Suddenly, it seemed the entire cannabis movement was in jeopardy. Laws legalizing medical and recreational cannabis could be at risk. A booming industry predicted to be worth $50 billion annually by 2026 could instead be going down in flames.
