On August 1, Missouri Governor Michael Parson issued Executive Order 24-10 (the EO), a bold move aimed at addressing consumer safety concerns surrounding unregulated psychoactive cannabis products. The EO sparked a legal battle with the Missouri Hemp Trade Association (MO Hemp), which claims that by designating these products as adulterated and imposing an embargo under the EO, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) violated Missouri law. The governor’s action is yet another example of a state taking aggressive steps to address gaps left by the lack of federal regulations to ensure consumer safety in the burgeoning industrial hemp industry.

The New York Voting Rights Act‘s (NYVRA) preclearance section takes effect on September 22, 2024. The new rule requires covered jurisdictions to seek “preclearance” of certain covered policy changes to their election and redistricting procedures from the New York Office of the Attorney General (AG) or an appropriate court. The public comment period on the AG’s proposed preclearance rule is closed and resulted in the AG adopting the proposed rule as final without substantive changes. The final rule further clarifies the standards and processes for obtaining preclearance and will be published in the State Register on September 11, 2024.

When Minnesota legislators passed House File 4065 in 2022 — legalizing the sale of certain hemp-derived THC edibles and beverages — few could have predicted that a multimillion-dollar THC-infused beverage market would result. Today, Minnesota consumers enjoy access to THC beverages in many places traditionally reserved for alcohol — liquor stores, breweries, bars, and restaurants.

I. Introduction

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the largest governing body in college athletics. The NCAA regulates all aspects of student athletics among 1,100 schools in the United States. It also organizes the athletic programs for over 500,000 collegiate student athletes. Part and parcel to their governance of collegiate athletics is the NCAA’s responsibility for maintaining the integrity of competition by conducting drug testing procedures for student athletes under their purview. On June 26, 2024, the NCAA removed cannabis from its banned drugs list for Division I college football championship and post-season. This decision has significant legal and policy implications that extend beyond the realm of collegiate athletics. Arguably, this decision is a part of the evolving public perception of marijuana.

On August 27, the New Jersey Attorney General (AG) and the Division of Consumer Affairs announced that the state had issued notices of violation and $4,500 civil penalty demands to 19 retailers across New Jersey for allegedly selling banned flavored vapor products. This is New Jersey’s first public enforcement of the state’s 2020 flavor ban, and New Jersey joins a number of other state AGs taking similar action across the U.S.

California Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta has settled with StubHub, Inc. (StubHub) for alleged violations of the Unfair Competition Law and False Advertising Law. The complaint accuses StubHub of making misleading statements to induce the public to purchase tickets on its platform. Specifically, the complaint highlights StubHub’s “FanProtect” guarantee, which promised full refunds for canceled events — a promise that StubHub allegedly failed to honor during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August, a group of tobacco companies filed a petition for certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking review of a lower court’s holding that the First Amendment does not prohibit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from requiring graphic warnings on cigarette packs. As we noted in prior coverage, the March 2020 FDA rule at issue would require new textual health warning statements alongside color, photorealistic images displayed on the top 50% of the front and rear panels of cigarette packs and the top 20% of cigarette advertisements.