Federal Appeals Court Schedules Oral Argument In Case Seeking To Overturn U.S. Marijuana Prohibition

A federal appeals court has scheduled oral arguments for a case challenging the U.S. government's ban on marijuana for December 5, just three days after a separate hearing on the Biden administration’s proposed reclassification of marijuana.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit released a scheduling notice for the lawsuit on Wednesday, stating that the arguments will take place at 9:30 a.m. in a Boston courthouse. The court clerk also mentioned that live audio access to these arguments will be available to the public and emphasized that the case would not be postponed or delayed unless for serious reasons.

The lawsuit, brought to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Western Division, involves multi-state operator Verano Holdings Corp. and Massachusetts-based cannabis companies Canna Provisions and Wiseacre Farm, along with Treevit CEO Gyasi Sellers. These parties contend that the government's ongoing ban on marijuana is unconstitutional.

The companies argue in their appeal that over recent decades, Congress has "abandoned the notion that federal control of state-regulated marijuana is vital."

“Congress has ceased its efforts to eradicate marijuana and has explicitly exempted it from federal enforcement under certain conditions,” states the companies’ opening brief, citing a congressional budget provision that prohibits federal funds from being used to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana, as well as the decision by federal lawmakers to permit marijuana legalization in the District of Columbia.

Given these developments, the brief argues that “the CSA’s prohibition on state-regulated marijuana cannot be justified today.”