In this episode of Regulatory Oversight, Troutman Pepper attorneys Nick Ramos, Christina Sava, and Stephen Piepgrass offer thoughts on how to incorporate, or not incorporate, regulatory approaches from the alcohol industry into the cannabis industry.

The cannabis industry’s rapid U.S. evolution poses many unique questions, most interestingly: What cannabis regulation will look like under federal legalization. Although (legal) cannabis is a brand new industry, it is not the first time the United States has come out of a prohibition era. So, learning from the regulatory schemes governing the highly regulated alcohol industry should assist in a smoother transition to a world where recreational cannabis usage is no longer considered a taboo in our society.

On July 5, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the decision of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “deem” premium cigars subject to the same federal law as other tobacco products like cigarettes was “arbitrary and capricious.” In reaching this conclusion, Judge Amit Mehta relied heavily on industry comments…

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of a craft beer producer over the Texas Alcohol Control Board (TABC) in a case that asked which brewers can sell beer to customers for off-premises consumption. The plaintiff, CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, challenged TABC’s interpretation of a 2019 amendment to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage…

On June 23, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced that his office had reached a settlement with Red Rocks Credit Union to refund Colorado consumers more than $300,000 after the credit union failed to refund unearned guaranteed automobile protection (GAP) premiums entitled to consumers under state law.

The settlement is the fifth such resolution with…

On June 22, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) released the Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. OIRA is the government’s central authority to review executive branch regulations. The report, which includes both short- and long-term regulatory actions that administrative agencies plan to take, notably included several contributions from the…

This article originally appeared in Cannabis Business Executive and is republished here with permission.

The rapid evolution of the cannabis industry in the United States poses many unique questions, the most interesting of which is what cannabis regulation will look like under federal legalization. Although (legal) cannabis is a brand new industry, it is not…

This blog post was republished by Vapor Voice on July 1, 2022.

On June 23, the Virginia and Nevada attorneys general sent a letter on behalf of a bipartisan coalition of 23 state attorneys general, expressing concern about edible products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) sold in packaging to look like popular snacks and sweets.

Before Halloween…

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced plans to publish a proposed rule that would establish a maximum nicotine level in cigarettes and certain “other combusted tobacco products.” At the moment, it is not clear what “other combusted products” FDA might have in mind. According to the Spring 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, FDA is targeting May 2023 to issue the proposed rule, but that could always change.

Please join Troutman Pepper Partner Chris Willis and guests Troutman Pepper Associates Chris Carlson and Susan Nikdel as they discuss the multistate coalition of state attorneys general calling on many of the nation’s largest banks to eliminate overdraft fees. The conversation focuses on what was done, which state attorneys general participated, the current controversy surrounding overdraft fees, and several key takeaways for the industry going forward.

In a keynote address at the Consumer Federation of America’s 2022 Consumer Assembly, CFPB Deputy Director Zixta Martinez squarely took aim at “rent-a-bank schemes” in some of the first (if not the first) such comments by a senior CFPB official. Historically, the CFPB has confined itself to “true lender” litigation against participants in high-rate…