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WINTER LLP UPDATE: U.S. Senate Votes To Legalize Hemp After Decades-Long Ban Under Marijuana Prohibition

The non-psychoactive cannabis cousin of marijuana would finally become legal to grow in the United States under a bill overwhelmingly approved by the Senate.

Photo by Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images

The wide-ranging agriculture and food policy legislation known as the Farm Bill, passed by a vote of 86 – 11 on Thursday, contains provisions to legalize the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp.

The move, championed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), would also make hemp plants eligible for crop insurance.

“Consumers across America buy hundreds of millions in retail products every year that contain hemp,” McConnell said in a floor speech on Thursday. “But due to outdated federal regulations that do not sufficiently distinguish this industrial crop from its illicit cousin, American farmers have been mostly unable to meet that demand themselves. It’s left consumers with little choice but to buy imported hemp products from foreign-produced hemp.”

McConnell also took to the Senate floor on Tuesday and Wednesday to tout the bill’s hemp legalization provisions in separate speeches.

In April, the GOP leader introduced standalone legislation to legalize hemp, the Hemp Farming Act, the provisions of which were included in the larger Farm Bill when it was unveiled earlier this month.

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry approved the bill by a vote of 20-1 two weeks ago.

During that committee markup, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), one of Congress’s most ardent opponents of marijuana law reform, threatened to pursue serious changes to the bill’s hemp provisions on the floor. Namely, he wanted to remove the legalization of derivatives of the cannabis plant, such as cannabidiol (CBD), which is used by many people for medical purposes. But Grassley never ended up filing a floor amendment, allowing hemp supporters to avoid a contentious debate and potentially devastating changes to the bill.

Hemp legalization enjoys broad bipartisan support.

“Legalizing hemp nationwide ends decades of bad policymaking and opens up untold economic opportunity for farmers in Oregon and across the country,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said upon passage of the Farm Bill on Thursday. “Our bipartisan legislation will spur economic growth in rural communities by creating much-needed red, white and blue jobs that pay well. I’m proud to have worked with my colleagues to get the bipartisan Hemp Farming Act through the Senate. Today marks a long-overdue, huge step forward for American-grown hemp.”

BIG news for industrial hemp farming! Today, the Senate passed my bipartisan #HempFarmingAct, legislation that would lift a decades-old ban on growing industrial hemp on American soil. #RonReport

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) 3:09 PM – Jun 28, 2018

Earlier this month, the Senate approved a nonbinding resolution recognizing hemp’s “growing economic potential.”

“For the first time in 80 years, this bill legalizes hemp. We forget, but hemp was widely grown in the United States throughout the mid-1800s,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) said in a floor speech on Wednesday. “Americans used hemp in fabrics, wine, and paper. Our government treated industrial hemp like any other farm commodity until the early 20th century, when a 1937 law defined it as a narcotic drug, dramatically limiting its growth. This became even worse in 1970 when hemp became a schedule I controlled substance. In Colorado, as is true across the country–I have talked to a lot of colleagues about this–we see hemp as a great opportunity to diversify our farms and manufacture high-margin products for the American people.”

McConnell’s standalone hemp bill currently has 29 cosponsors signed on—17 Democrats, nine Republicans and two independents.

A Congressional Research Service report released last week says that the “global market for hemp consists of more than 25,000 products.”

House Republican leaders blocked a vote to make hemp legalization part of that chamber’s version of the Farm Bill. But now that the language is included in the version approved by the Senate, it will be part of discussions by the bicameral conference committee that will merge both chambers’ bills into a single piece of legislation to be send to President Trump’s desk. All indications are that McConnell, as the most powerful senator, will fight hard for the survival of his hemp proposal.

A White House statement of administration policy released this week outlining concerns with the Farm Bill does not mention its hemp legalization provisions.

In 2014, McConnell included provisions to allow limited state-authorized hemp research programs in that year’s version of the Farm Bill.

Kentucky’s agriculture commissioner cheered the passage of the new hemp provisions on Thursday..

For farmers across KY, there is no piece of legislation more important than the #FarmBill. I am excited that @SenateMajLdr’s #HempFarmingAct made it into this measure, which will allow states to unleash the full economic potential of our industrial hemp pilot programs. #KyAg365

— Commissioner Quarles (@KYAgCommish) 3:17 PM – Jun 28, 2018

Tom Angell publishes Marijuana Moment news and founded the nonprofit Marijuana Majority. Follow Tom on Twitter for breaking news and subscribe to his daily newsletter.

WINTER LLP UPDATE: FDA approves first drug derived from marijuana

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday gave a green light to the country’s first drug derived from marijuana.

Epidiolex, manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals, is intended to treat seizures associated with two rare and severe forms of epilepsy that begin in childhood. The drug is made of cannabidiol (CBD), a component of marijuana that doesn’t give users a high.

The approval could spur more research into marijuana products, though marijuana itself remains illegal.

“This approval serves as a reminder that advancing sound development programs that properly evaluate active ingredients contained in marijuana can lead to important medical therapies,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Gottlieb stressed the importance of using proper research on the medical uses of marijuana and noted the approval doesn’t mean the agency will be lowering its approval standards for marijuana.

“This is an important medical advance. But it’s also important to note that this is not an approval of marijuana or all of its components,” he said. “This is the approval of one specific CBD medication for a specific use.”

Medical marijuana is available in about half of states. But federal regulations classify CBD as a Schedule 1 drug, which means it has no medical value and a high potential for abuse, because it is a chemical component of the cannabis plant.

This means the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will have to reclassify it before GW can begin marketing Epidiolex.

The FDA said it is providing medical and scientific information and recommendations to the DEA about CBD.

WINTER LLP UPDATE: California Trademarks (Success); and CBD Trademarks Federally

Hello everyone,

As a follow up to our warning email below regarding cannabis trademarks in California, we would like to report that, thanks to the trust of couple of our clients, and with some painful conversations and written arguments with the California Secretary of State, we have now successfully prosecuted a few California state level trademarks for clients.

We still maintain the analysis below w/re to the enforcement and value of state vs. federal trademarks. But I wanted to assure any of you that may be on the fence about filing for California state level trademarks, we believe we have educated the Secretary of State’s office sufficiently to provide you with a positive path forward for In Use Cannabis-specific Trademarks, if you wish to proceed. Please let us know.

Additionally, we are also excited to announce we have overcome the USPTO’s prior objections to clients’ CBD related trademark applications. Previously the USPTO had refused CBD marks based on the FDA/DEA positions. But with only a slight modification to our current filings, we have overcome these objections, and our CBD related trademarks are now moving their way through the USPTO towards full federal registration.

Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you.