Tom Wilkinson, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation department, discusses Pennsylvania's new medical marijuana law in the Pennsylvania Bar Association. As the fanfare subsides and the industry develops, Pennsylvania businesses, lawyers, and courts will confront medical marijuana’s side effect: a clash with federal law. Marijuana industry actors will grapple with the implications of an industry best described as “quasi-legal” and how to finesse tight state regulations and patchwork federal policy. This article proceeds in five parts. First, it reviews the background leading to the passage of the Medical Marijuana Act (MMA), as well as the national trend the new law reflects. Second, it outlines and describes the MMA’s key provisions. Third, it previews the forthcoming regulatory scheme to issue from the Department of Health. Fourth, it explores the ethical implications of medical marijuana for the legal industry — how other states have responded and Pennsylvania’s chosen path. Fifth, it surveys the MMA’s broader consequences and its spillover effects into other industries.
To read the article, click here.