September 2021

On 7th July 2021, the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte – BfArM) launched the first sale of cannabis exclusively for medical purposes from cultivation in Germany.

Genetically modified microbes are being fermented in breweries, today, to produce cannabinoids. The combination of genetic engineering and fermentation is called “Precision Fermentation” (PF). The resulting Precision-Fermented Cannabinoids (PFCs) can be sold as isolates, blended with terpenes and flavonoids into pseudo-extracts, and soaked into cheap hempseed flower biomass to make pseudo-marijuana flower. These PFC-based products are likely to satisfy those who want to treat their medical conditions (or get high) inexpensively—that is, everyone except connoisseurs.

The delta-8 -tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-8-THC) trend has emerged as a solution to this oversupply of CBD biomass. An interesting chemical property of CBD meant that chemists could convert the unwanted CBD into isomers of THC

Much of the cannabis industry we see today is based around just two of the 1000+ phytochemicals that reside in cannabis: cannabidiol (CBD); and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). All progress thus far has been made through a primary focus on these two phytocannabinoids, just a tiny fraction of the plant’s potential. CBD is just the tip of the iceberg.

Cannabis and hemp are known to be avid hyper-accumulators of contaminants in the soil. That is why they have been used to clean up toxic waste sites where other kinds of remediation attempts have failed. In the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear melt down in the Ukraine in 1986, industrial hemp was planted to clean up the radioactive isotopes that had leaked into the soil and ground waters. The phytoremediation properties of botanical species are well-recognized. It has been reported that close to 400 plants, shrubs, flowers and trees have the ability to absorb extremely high levels of metal contaminants out of the soil.

The difference between Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) is not always clear. Quality Control refers to the process that analyzes every raw material, excipient, intermediate material and finished product, in the laboratory.  Quality Assurance is a complex system that includes: Site Master File (SMF), Quality Manual (QM), Main SOPs, Equipment Validation, Process Validation, Cleaning Validation, Computer System Validation, Product Quality Review, Risk Analysis, Audits and Inspections.

11 million pounds of unsold hemp are sitting idle in Kentucky. For hemp farmers in Kentucky and the wider US, hemp is not the cash crop it was purported to be. Hemp farmers, the wider industry, and consumers alike, are living in a limbo borne of the indecisiveness and inaction of the FDA.

As the cannabis industry begins to see its first large-scale, multi-state operators, many businesses are finding that their current operations are being hindered by not having the right technology, especially operations management software, available to them.

On August 19, 2021, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) approved the Specially Adopted Personal Use Cannabis Rules (the “Rules”). The Rules will be effective until at least August 19, 2022.

Seyfarth Synopsis: In the first six months of 2021, several states legalized marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes, including New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and New Mexico.  States show no signs of slowing down.  On June 22, 2021, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed a bill that legalized recreational marijuana use by adults 21 years and older.

Podcast series where Mario Torres, lawyer at Meritas member firm BrazeauSeller and Co-Chair of Meritas’ Latin America & Caribbean Cannabis law group, interviews lawyers from around the world to learn more about how each jurisdiction is handling cannabis and marijuana legalization.

Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code prohibits taxpayers who are engaged in the business of trafficking certain controlled substances (including, most notably, marijuana) from deducting typical business expenses associated those activities. Section 280E, which was enacted in 1982 during the so-called War on Drugs, has become increasingly relevant for cannabis (marijuana) businesses.