A coalition of anti-marijuana groups and a cannabis-focused biopharmaceutical corporation have filed a new brief in their lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s initiative to cover up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products each year for eligible Medicare patients.
In May, Judge Trevor N. McFadden dismissed the challenge to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) program that focuses largely on CBD but also allows a certain amount of THC in products. The opponents of the CBD Medicare effort then asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reconsider the decision.
In the new brief submitted to the appeals court on Monday, lawyers for Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), Cannabis Industry Victims Educating Litigators (CIVEL), Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance and MMJ International Holdings and its subsidiaries (MMJ) argued that the lower court judge erred in finding that they do not have standing to bring the challenge.
While the immediate issue at hand focuses on standing, the brief also argues that the Medicare hemp program itself is “both procedurally defective in its adoption and materially harmful to market competitors, healthcare providers, and elderly Americans.”
McFadden had determined that MMJ lacks standing because it has not yet
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