Welcome back to Higher Law, our weekly briefing on all things cannabis. I'm Cheryl Miller, reporting for Law.com from (near) Sacramento. Thanks for reading amid everything that's happening. Hope you're staying well.

This week we're looking at: • Cannabis and the coronavirus • Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's work for CBD company Charlotte's Web • Coats Rose's new cannabis practice attorney • State laws on recreational marijuana and workers

How are you dealing with the new coronavirus reality? What about your firm? Your clients? Tell me about it at [email protected] or call me at 916.448.2935. Follow me on Twitter @capitalaccounts.

Cannabis and COVID-19

Toilet paper isn't the only commodity flying off the shelves these days.

Whether they're seeking anxiety relief or just preparing to hunker down for a while, consumers are stocking up on legal sativa and other cannabis products. State-legal sales are up and so is the amount each customer is buying on average, USA Today reported.

"Apparently people need weed and toilet paper, that I am sure of," said Wanda James, who owns the Simply Pure dispensary in Denver. "They are absolutely stocking up."

>> But closures may be coming. Canopy Growth closed its 23 Tweed and Tokyo Smoke outlets across Canada on Tuesday, citing the pandemic. Other state-legal shops are voluntarily closing or stopping recreational sales. Michigan is temporarily allowing curbside pick-ups at marijuana stores around the state to curtail gatherings. Could online sales be next?

>> Medical marijuana is receiving special dispensation. San Francisco originally ordered dispensaries closed as part of a shelter-in-place order that has all but shut down the Bay Area. Leaders changed their minds, however, and allowed medical marijuana retailers to re-open as an "essential" goods provider. Pennsylvania asked restaurants and bars in suburban counties surrounding Philadelphia to close, but not dispensaries. New York labeled medical marijuana providers essential services, too, allowing them to stay open.

>> The coronavirus may challenge legalization campaigns. Ohio advocates have to collect 441,000 signatures by July to put a recreational-use measure on the November ballot, a tough task just made more difficult by the pandemic. In New York, a key state lawmaker said criminal justice matters, including the push to legalize recreational-use marijuana, will take a back seat to efforts to combat COVID-19.

>> And what about lawyers with cannabis clients? "People just kind of want to talk," Kevin Slaughter, a partner in Levenfeld Pearlstein's corporate practice in Chicago, told me Wednesday. "I've had a lot of conversations with people just asking me questions. Force majeure has been a big issue the last couple of days. Everybody's just kind of confused."

Slaughter has been working from home, fielding too many emails to count and Skyping. He's already seen one deal die post COVID-19.

"I mean, the market's bad. You can't blame them," he said. "What I've seen is there are some perceived advantages that come out of this, so those deals are going forward. But what I would call 'traditional' deals? Those are going to get stalled because nobody knows what life is going to look like."

(I had an interesting conversation with Slaughter about cannabis social equity programs. More on that next week.)

>> What should cannabis lawyers be discussing with clients right now? Lauren Mendelsohn of the Law Offices of Omar Figueroa has some thoughts. So does Harris Bricken attorney Vince Sliwoski.

Who Got the Work

>> Lawyers from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher are representing the CBD maker Charlotte's Web Holdings Inc. in a class consumer case in California. Three firms—Kohn, Swift & Graf; Barbet; Mansour & Suciu; and Greg Coleman Law—filed the complaint in the Northern District of California in November. The complaint alleges "false, fraudulent, unfair, deceptive, and misleading practices." The Gibson Dunn team on Monday filed papers arguing the plaintiffs do not have standing to pursue their claims.

>> Coats Rose has added cannabis law attorney Lisa Pittman as of counsel in the firm's Austin office. Her practice is focused on hemp and cannabis business planning and compliance, as well as commercial litigation. Her background includes work at two Colorado law firms specializing in cannabis and a year at the firm Thomas Pittman. Coats Rose launched its cannabis business law practice last year after hemp was legalized in Texas. Pittman will co-chair the group with Andrea Steel, director in the firm's Houston office.

>> San Francisco-based cannabis firm Clark Neubert has changed its name to Clark Howell and added mergers and acquisitions and commercial real estate practice areas. Founding partners Ariel Clark and Nicole Howell (formerly Neubert) were among the first women in California to start a firm devoted to cannabis business and regulatory law. Clark Howell represents clients in projects across California and has offices in Santa Monica, San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Cruz and Mt. Shasta.

In the Weeds

>> When the law says yes to marijuana but the job says no. "Even in states where recreational marijuana is legal, little stands in the way of an employer who chooses not to hire or terminate an employee for a positive marijuana test. While several states' medical marijuana statutes specifically prohibit discrimination in hiring or penalizing employees based on medical marijuana use, only Nevada extends protection for recreational use." [On Labor]

>> Iowans support marijuana legalization. For the first time, a recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed that a majority of respondents–53 percent–approve of recreational marijuana. Eighty-one percent of those taking the poll said the state's medical marijuana program should be expanded to include more qualifying conditions. [Des Moines Register]

>> Is the southern U.S. warming to marijuana? Advocates in Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama are all pursuing medical marijuana legalization measures. "Views about marijuana are changing across the South, where efforts to legalize it have long been stymied by Bible Belt politics. While medical cannabis is legal now in 33 states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and Florida, other Southern states remain among the holdouts." [Associated Press]

>> The hemp industry has launched in Texas. The state this week opened the application process for would-be growers."The Texas Department of Agriculture said it had received 110 applications from growers by early afternoon, as well as about 25 more from people aiming to transport or otherwise handle hemp in Texas." [Austin American-Statesman]

>> Marijuana is legal in Canada. So why is the black market thriving? "The legal stuff is garbage," said one Reddit user. Another said: "Friends don't let friends smoke government weed." Taxes, regulations and limited licensed supplies probably have more to do with it, experts say. [The Guardian]

The Calendar: What's Next

March 20 - BDS Analytics hosts the webinar "Initial Impact of COVID-19 on the Cannabis Industry."

March 26 - The International Cannabis Bar Association hosts the webinar "Privacy in cannabis: HIPAA and other concerns." Presenters include Najarian Peters, faculty fellow and assistant professor in the Institute for Privacy Protection at Seton Hall University and Jennifer Oliva, associate professor at Seton Hall Law, where she specializes in health, FDA, privacy, and evidence law.