The 4/20 Edition of the Leaflet
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Subscribe Past Issues WELCOME TO THE 4/20 EDITION OF THE LEAFLET As a cannabis law firm, our work is tied to the broader movement for cannabis legalization, and one of the engines of that movement is the culture of cannabis. 420 is the best-known celebration of that culture – the day when cannabis advocates gather to celebrate the plant that is steadily remaking the nation’s attitudes towards its own drug laws and driving an increasingly significant portion of its economy. Like most high-profile celebrations that have made their way into pop culture, 420’s origins and significance are often lost. And what better place to remind everyone than right here, in the 420 Edition of The Leaflet. The term “420” and its association with cannabis can be traced back to the early 1970’s, when a group of California teenagers that called themselves the Waldos found a treasure map that supposedly led to a cannabis plant growing somewhere in the California wilderness. (Link). Every day, the Waldos would meet after school to go off in search of the mythical plant. Even though they never found it, their designated meeting time – 4:20 p.m. – became a part of cannabis lore when one of the Waldos became a roadie for the Grateful Dead and the term caught on with millions of dedicated Deadheads. Today, the 420 holiday is celebrated around the world. But its impact goes far beyond the gathering of cannabis enthusiasts. The term became a rallying cry for cannabis advocates, as they campaigned for legalization. As VOX wrote in 2019, while “some people want to get high and have fun, others see the day as a moment to push for legalization.” (Link). Damian Marley, the cannabis entrepreneur and son of Bob Marley, told Rolling Stone that “420 is positive, because it raised a lot of conversations and discussions about the plant,” and that the holiday is more relevant than ever because of legalization. (Link). In fact, in 2003, the California legislature codified the ballot measure legalizing the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. What was the name of the bill, you ask? Well, it was Senate Bill 420 of course! (Link). 420 started as a counter-cultural event. A chance for cannabis enthusiasts to protest unjust drug laws and celebrate a plant that they believed could make the world a better place. The fact that this counter-cultural movement has made its way to the mainstream – with more states legalizing adult-use cannabis, and the legal cannabis industry growing so fast that some experts expect it to have more than $130 billion in total economic impact by 2024 (Link) – is a testament to the success of that movement. As a firm, that in many ways owes its very existence to the movement, we here at Feuerstein Kulick just want to wish everyone a very happy 4/20. As a firm, that in many ways owes its very existence to the movement, we here at Feuerstein Kulick just want to wish everyone a very happy 4/20. THAT’S JUST YOUR OPINION, MAN (We can’t believe it took us 3 issues to drop a Lebowski gif) What better place to launch a new section for The Leaflet than here, in our special 420 Edition. Welcome to “That’s Just Your Opinion, Man”, where we let one member of the FK team sound off on the cannabis issue of the day. Kicking things off is this little piece from FK co-founder, Mitch Kulick. What’s in a name? “As you are reading these words, you are taking part in one of the wonders of the natural world. For you and I belong to a species with a remarkable ability: we can shape events in each other's brains with exquisite precision.” ― Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. Language is a powerful tool that can help or hinder peoples’ understanding of the world around them. The words we choose have consequences – for better or worse – and so it is with the nation’s attitude towards cannabis. For decades, anti-cannabis zealots sought to stigmatize the substance and justify the imprisonment of those that used it for medicinal or recreational purposes by purposefully coining the term “marijuana”, which (according to NPR) “came into popular usage in the U.S. in the early 20th century because anti-cannabis factions wanted to underscore the drug’s ‘Mexican-ness’” and to “play off anti- immigrant sentiments.” (Link). As the nation rethinks its harmful attitudes towards cannabis, it’s important that those of us within the cannabis industry choose our words carefully, in a way that avoids the stereotypes and stigmas that have marred so much of our recent history. For that reason, it’s time that we banish the term “Black Market” from the cannabis-industry lexicon. As more states have legalized recreational and medicinal cannabis, those of us within the industry have had to confront a vexing terminological problem – how to distinguish between the ever-increasing number of legal cannabis markets, and the illegal cannabis market, where people have historically been forced to buy their cannabis products (and where many still do). For years, the term “Black Market” has been the way people have commonly referred to this illegal marketplace. But, like “marijuana”, the term has troubling implications. The precise origins of the phrase are debatable, but one theory suggests that it came out of the WWII era when everything from food to raw materials were rationed by the federal government in service of the war effort. Those trading in goods that were supposed to be rationed did so in the dark of night and so the illegal markets they created came to be known as the “Black Market.” Another theory was that after the abolition of slavery, markets were still held to sell slaves. These illegal markets became known as “Black Markets.” Whatever its origins, the association of the supposedly illicit marketplace for cannabis and other illegal items as “black” is problematic in the extreme. As the Huffington Post wrote in 2020: The symbolism of white as positive and black as negative is pervasive in our culture. [as] color is “related to extortion (blackmail), disrepute (black mark), rejection (blackball), banishment (blacklist), impurity (‘not the driven snow’) and illicitness (black market).” (Link). The use of the term “Black Market” in the cannabis context is even more troubling, given that black and brown people are four times as likely to be arrested for cannabis-related offenses as white people, even though the two groups use cannabis at the same rate. (Link). For all these reasons, cannabis industry leaders should reconsider using the term Black Market to describe the illegal cannabis market that still exists alongside the legal market in almost every state. At our firm, when discussing the illegal marketplace, we refer to it as the Traditional Market or the Legacy Market. Referring to it in these terms not only avoids the harmful stigmas of the “Black Market”; it pays tribute to those who traded in cannabis before the creation of the legal markets in which so many of our clients operate. It honors those who came before us and relegates a harmful term to the dustbin of history. To be clear, that doesn’t mean we need to vilify everyone that unknowingly deploys the term Black Market without realizing how it perpetuates harmful ideas. The phrase Black Market has been around for nearly 100 years and has become part of the vernacular. But we should strive for something better. One of the driving forces of cannabis legalization has been the earnest desire of many in the industry to promote social equity, and to reverse as much of the harm caused by the war on drugs as possible (along with our cultural attitudes towards those unjustly caught in its crossfire). Retiring the phrase “Black Market” in favor of “Legacy Market” would be one (admittedly small) step forward in the industry’s quest for social equity. CANNABIS CHATTER Five Things You Should Know About New York’s New Adult-Use Cannabis Law The cannabis industry finally harpooned its white (or maybe green) whale when Governor Cuomo signed The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (or “MRTA”) into law on March 31 – legalizing adult-use cannabis throughout New York. For anyone keeping tabs on the Empire State’s state of cannabis – long viewed by many as one of the most exciting and potentially lucrative adult-use markets out there – you know it’s been a long, hard and winding road. But hey, if adult use can make it here, it can make it . And while it’s still early days for the adult-use market in New York – regulators have yet to be appointed, rules have yet to be written – there’s still a lot to learn from the text of MRTA itself. Here are five things you should know about the MRTA. The Cannabis Control Board The newly created Cannabis Control Board (“CCB”) will be the epicenter of adult-use regulatory authority in New York. Among its many powers and responsibilities, the CCB will: (1) have the power to issue licenses; (2) have the discretion to limit the number of licenses issued in order to prioritize social equity applicants, encourage small business opportunities and to prevent the New York market from being controlled by a small group of large MSOs; and (3) promulgate the rules that will govern everything from licensing applications to the operation of New York’s cannabis cultivators, distributors and retailers. The CCB will consist of five members, with the Chairperson and two other members being appointed by the Governor (with advice and consent of the State Senate), and the other two members appointed by the legislature – one by the Senate President, and one by the Speaker for the State Assembly.