Cannabis Law Blog

The INCBA Monthly Member Meetings are back — a members-only space to hear timely legal insight, connect and share thoughts with colleagues across the cannabis bar, and engage directly with INCBA and industry leadership. Wednesday, July 22 1:00 p.m. PT / 3:00 p.m. CT / 4:00 p.m. ET (75 minutes) This Month: Inside the DEA Hearing on Cannabis Rescheduling We're joined by two people with a front-row seat to the most consequential activity in cannabis law this year, hosted by INCBA President David Ruskin (Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP): Gail Rand, CPA/Advisor, Grand Consulting, LLC — Gail attended the DEA hearing after spending more than a decade as an operator (the first licensee in Maryland) and business/financial advisor, helping to push the industry forward every chance she can. She started in cannabis as an advocate for her son with epilepsy. She'll walk through her full pad of notes from inside the room. Jason Adelstone, Attorney/MBA, Harris Sliwoski LL...

Click Here To View And Download The Letter Today, INCBA submitted a formal request to DEA Administrator Terrance C. "Terry" Cole asking the agency to provide live, remote public access to the marijuana rescheduling hearing that began this morning, June 29, 2026. The DEA's current rules bar livestreaming, limit in-person attendance to first-come seats with no overflow and prohibit any recording. A transcript will follow — eventually. For the cannabis attorneys INCBA represents, that isn't good enough. Criminal defense counsel, transactional attorneys, regulatory practitioners, and hemp counsel all have clients whose outcomes turn on what the government says at this hearing — not on what appears in a document weeks later. INCBA takes no position on rescheduling itself. We take a firm position on transparency: a proceeding this consequential, closed to all but a handful of in-person attendees, does not honor the DEA's own stated commitment to openness. We've aske...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE INTERNATIONAL CANNABIS BAR ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2026 CANNABIS LAW INSTITUTE AS INDUSTRY ENTERS NEW LEGAL ERA With federal uncertainty and market complexity rising, cannabis attorneys gather to confront what comes next Chicago, IL - April 21, 2026 - The International Cannabis Bar Association (INCBA) announced the return of its flagship annual event, the Cannabis Law Institute (CLI2026), taking place June 17–18, 2026 at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago. Widely regarded as the leading conference dedicated exclusively to cannabis law, the Cannabis Law Institute convenes top attorneys, regulators, policymakers, and industry stakeholders to navigate one of the most complex and rapidly evolving legal landscapes in the United States.  The 2026 program is built around a simple but urgent premise: cannabis law encompasses both “marijuana” and “hemp” and the traditional methods of analyzing and serving the two industries need updating. Over two days of su...

Yesterday, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing completion of the rulemaking process started under the Biden Administration to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act “in the most expeditious manner in accordance with Federal Law.” While this is a significant policy shift that should be widely recognized, the Order largely advances an already-pending process and does not, on its own, immediately resolve many core legal and regulatory barriers facing patients, providers, or the cannabis industry. The Order follows years of federal review acknowledging credible scientific support for medical uses of marijuana, including treatment of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, intractable pain, including from migraines, cancer, degenerative disc disease, central pain syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis, anorexia related to certain medical conditions, and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. This Order does not itself complete the process of...

On September 11th, 2023, leading legal experts, INCBA President Jason Horst , Managing Partner of Horst Legal Counsel, PC, Amber Littlejohn , Of Counsel at Ice Miller LLP, Shane Pennington , Partner at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, and Khurshid Khoja , Founder of Greenbridge Corporate Counsel discussed the Department of Health and Human Services’ recommendation to the Drug Enforcement Agency to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III, what its potential implications could be for the industry and the legalization movement, and what still needs to happen before rescheduling becomes a reality.