Cannabis Law and Policy

Catalog description

Adult-use cannabis (also known as recreational marijuana) is now legal in 24 states and the US cannabis industry is expected to reach almost $40 billion in 2024. Yet adult-use cannabis also remains federally illegal. Amid this contradiction, California sits as the largest cannabis market in the world, and New York State (which legalized adult-use cannabis on March 21, 2021) is expected to boom from a $2 million cannabis industry in 2022, to over $7 billion in 2025. This course will explore conundrums for lawyers advising clients in a dramatically expanding industry where - in just two examples of myriad complexities that we will consider - the product currently may not travel across state lines and (until legalized by states) has contributed to disproportionate community effects by the American war on drugs. Students will write a substantial and research-based paper.