Several leading cannabis businesses and stakeholders are banding together to sue the federal government over what they believe to be unconstitutional policies impeding their operations, according to the CEO of one of the companies. He also says they’ve retained a prominent law firm led by an attorney who has been involved in numerous high-profile federal cases.
There have been various attempts to upend federal prohibition through the court system, but what makes this emerging effort especially notable is that the coalition of multi-state operators (MSOs) in the cannabis industry will apparently be represented by the firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
David Boies, the chairman of the firm, has a long list of prior clients that includes the Justice Department, former Vice President Al Gore, and the plaintiffs in a case that led to the invalidation of California’s ban on same-sex marriage, among others. The prominent firm’s willingness to take on the case from the cannabis industry would be a firm indicator that they see merit to the issue at hand.
Abner Kurtin, founder and CEO of Ascend Wellness Holdings told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Friday that this is an “industry-wide effort,” with at least six major cannabis operators “favorably disposed” to joining the suits—one of which would focus on stopping the federal government from impeding intrastate cannabis commerce and another challenging a tax provision known as 280E that blocks the industry from taking tax deductions that are available to any other company.
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