Excerpted from “Regulating Cannabis Interstate Commerce: Perspectives on How the Federal Government Should Respond,” Ohio State Legal Studies Research Paper No. 722, 2022.
As states have implemented adult-use cannabis markets, they have intentionally placed restrictions against any form of interstate trade within their regulatory frameworks. These restrictions generally support the aims of crony enterprises seeking to carve out regional monopolies but are patently unconstitutional. Some states have even gone so far as to impose residency requirements on all aspiring cannabis entrepreneurs, and even their passive investors, as a condition of licensure.
Courts have repeatedly made clear, however, that these state-imposed barriers to
