Welcome back to Higher Law, our weekly briefing on all things cannabis. I'm Cheryl Miller, reporting for Law.com from Sacramento.

This week we're looking at: A Q&A with Balanced Health Botanicals GC John Harloe • First quarter marijuana lobbying reports • Cooley's trademark lawsuit on behalf of Charlotte's Web Inc. • COVID-19′s potential silver lining for the legalization movement

Thanks for reading. I always appreciate your feedback, tips and advice for working from home when your neighbor likes to blast '70s Southern rock at all hours. Send it to me at [email protected] or call me at 916.448.2935. Follow me on Twitter @capitalaccounts.

Q&A: Balanced Health Botanicals' General Counsel Talks CBD and COVID-19

John Harloe's interest in cannabinoids started early as a pre-doctoral fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University's health system, which offered some of the only research into cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system at the time. After a stint at a Texas products liability law firm, Harloe joined Balanced Health Botanicals in 2019. Now he's back in the CBD world, dealing with the FDA and the novel coronavirus outbreak.

I recently spoke with Harloe about his work and its current challenges. Excerpts of our conversation are edited for length and clarity.

Higher Law: How has the COVID 19 outbreak changed your daily routine?

Harloe: There are more executive meetings mostly because we're all trying to get as much data together as we can about what's happening and how this might affect the future. It's all geared toward trying to protect the company and trying to protect our employees.

Other things I'm looking at personally just because of my background is the research and trying to stay on top of it. If somebody has something that might keep our workers safer, that's something that we want to know.

It must be a chore staying on top of recommendations for keeping employees safe and making sure everyone is following the right protocol. What's that been like?

There really hasn't been a lot to go on. The research is so new that I'm hesitant to put any of it in place until there's more evidence behind it because arguably it could be worse to put something in that we're not entirely sure of and then a week later somebody publishes results that say, hey, this is actually the wrong thing to do.

Everybody is struggling with that because this virus is so new and we have so little data. Every week it seems like it's changing, re-infection being an example. So we're working on this a lot. Working from home and not being able to go anywhere certainly helps.

Outside of the COVID situation, what are the issues you face in the CBD industry when the FDA has not offered clear guidance on CBD products?

The lack of FDA guidance puts a cloud over the entire industry. There have always been problems with access to capital, with selling into food drug mass—the larger retailers—and then just trying to explain to people what this new industry is about, what the Farm Bill is about, how we test from seed to sale to ensure safety from contaminants and stuff like that.

The industry had hoped to see some kind of resolution, whether it was a compromise or an interim rule or something like that while the FDA continues to gather data. That's obviously going to be pushed off now because the FDA's focus, rightfully, is going to be on COVID.

So I would expect, outside our business, you're going to see a number of companies that go into bankruptcy, especially those that are heavy on retail because there's just not the sell-through that you normally see. And then a lot of companies have gone with the business strategy of leveraging every dollar they can, dumping it into the market to the point that it outstrips their revenue Presumably if their sales drop they're going to be in a very bad position.

Hopefully as those people start dropping out of the industry you'll start seeing a return to normalcy. It's always been the biggest problem in the industry: You have these fly-by-night businesses that come in and make claims It's insane and ridiculous and it hurts everybody, including the consumer.

Hearing you describe all these things it sounds like so much uncertainty. Do you find these times irritating or challenging?

I love it. Everyday is something new. I feel like I'm always growing and learning something. And given that the industry is two or three years old, there aren't many experts in the field. So for once I'm not arguing with someone who's practiced a certain kind of law for 50 years where I've got five.

There's never a dull moment and I think all of us will be proud of being a part of something that one day we tell our kids we were part of ending prohibition, assuming that it continues on this track.

Q1 Marijuana Lobbying: Banking, State Protections and COVID-19 Relief

First quarter lobbying reports are rolling in and here are a few snapshots:.

• Massachusetts-based Curaleaf spent $120,000 on federal lobbying in January, February and March. The cannabis company's lobbying interests include the expected–the SAFE Banking Act, the STATES Act and the MORE Act–as well as a more pressing concern: provisions in COVID-19 relief legislation. Curaleaf's lobbying work also included a $60,000 contract with Navigators Global and $20,000 on a terminated agreement with The Group DC.

• The Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce paid $150,000 to K&L Gates for lobbying work on marijuana banking issues, expungement legislation and protections for state-legal cannabis operators as well as COVID-19 business relief. Former California Rep. Jeff Denham was one of the K&L Gates lobbyists working on issues for the San Diego-based Global Alliance.

• The Cannabis Trade Federation Action spent $235,000 on first-quarter lobbying, which included contracts with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; Jochum Shore & Trossevin PC and The Ruben Group. The federation's members include Caliva, iAnthus and Scotts Miracle-Gro.

Who Got the Work

>> Cooley filed a trademark lawsuit April 17 in the U.S. District Court for California's northern district on behalf of CBD company Charlotte's Web Inc. The complaint targets Balance CBD over its use of the product name Charlotte's Web for CBD oil tinctures and vaping cartridges. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant.

>> Lawyers at Jackson Lewis removed an age discrimination lawsuit against the operator of CBD brand Lazarus Naturals to New Jersey District Court. The suit was filed by Zatuchni & Associates in Warren County Superior Court on behalf of a former Lazarus sales manager who alleges he was fired for pretextual reasons and replaced with a younger employee.

>> Rose Law Partners co-founder Alan D. Rose Jr. represented Massachusetts financier Douglas Leighton in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into alleged stock fraud. The SEC alleged that Leighton orchestrated trading to inflate the price of shares in MassRoots before unloading the stock in the cannabis social networking company, according to a report in Barron's. Leighton and six co-defendants, who admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to settle the SEC charges by paying $1.5 million in disgorgement and penalties.

>> LeafLine Industries and its subsidiaries in the medical cannabis and CBD industries have named Mitchel Chargo as general counsel and executive vice president, Chargo will lead Leafline's legal, compliance, and governance matters. Chargo is a former shareholder at Bernick Lifson in Minneapolis.

>> Akerman partner Katherine Giddings will represent Florigrown LLC in oral arguments May 6 before the Florida Supreme Court, the Daily Business Review reports. The arguments will be the first delivered by video, a new remote arrangement driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Florigrown is challenging the constitutionality of state Health Department rules implementing the 2016 medical marijuana referendum approved by state voters.

In the Weeds…

>> The SEC charged a Florida man with spending marijuana investment money on strippers and cars. Federal securities regulators say Steven Lawrence Brickner raised $5.5 million from more than 60 investors who were told the money would purchase Colorado marijuana businesses. Instead, Brickner spent the money buying luxury cars and cryptocurrency, paying off his mortgage and visiting "an adult entertainment establishment" in Tampa, according to the SEC. Brickner's attorney did not respond to messages from the Tampa Bay Times. [Tampa Bay Times]

>> Is COVID-19 good for cannabis legalization? Cannabis corporate leaders told CNBC that after several states allowed marijuana outlets to stay open amid widespread shutdown orders the chances of federal legalization will increase."You can just point to the fact that we have been deemed essential, why are we not legal?" said cannabis investor Matt Hawkins, managing partner of private equity firm Entourage Capital "There is going to be a need for increased tax revenue and where else to look but at a legalized industry like cannabis, that is one of the few growth sectors in the world right now." [CNBC]

>> A new bill would offer coronavirus relief to marijuana businesses. House Democrats' legislation would give state-legal cannabis operators, currently excluded from federal aid programs, access to the paycheck protection program and economic injury disaster loans. "Without providing these businesses the relief needed to carry out the recommended public health and worker-focused measures, we are putting these hard-working people–and ourselves–at risk," Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon, said in a prepared statement. [The Hill]

>> Would-be pot shop owners are suing Los Angeles over the application process. The Social Equity Owners and Workers Association and one of its members say some applicants managed to start an online application process in September before the official 10 a.m. start time. Applicants were seeking one of 100 permits that were supposed to be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. A city-contracted audit found no wrongdoing on the part of organizers and concluded that those who accessed the application process early did not receive an unfair advantage. [Los Angeles Times]

>> A judge sided with Massachusetts' recreational-use shutdown. Suffolk Superior Court Judge Kenneth Salinger said Gov. Charlie Baker's concerns that leaving the region's only recreational-use marijuana outlets open could attract out-of-state buyers in a pandemic were reasonable. Salinger agreed with dispensaries' arguments that Baker could have taken less drastic measures such as limiting recreational sales to Massachusetts residents. But the judge said Baker's shutdown order was constitutional and that he wouldn't second-guess it. [Boston.com]

All the Calendar Things!

April 24: The American Bar Association presents the webinar "Cannabis and COVID-19: How a Federally Illegal Drug Continues to Exist as an 'Essential Business' at the State Level." Scheduled panelists include Canopy Growth U.S. general counsel Kelly Fair; MPG Consulting founder Adam Orens; and Wilson Elser attorneys Noelle Sheehan and Neil Willner.

April 29: The National Cannabis Industry Association hosts the webinar "Fireside Chats with the NCIA's Government Relations Team: Staying Politically Engaged in the Age of Coronavirus–An Update from Washington, D.C.

April 29: Harris Bricken hosts the webinar "Beyond CBD: New Cannabinoids and the 2018 Farm Bill." Firm attorneys Daniel Shortt, Griffen Thorne, Nathalie Bougenies and Vince Sliwoski will discuss trends in the developing cannabinoid market, including CBG, CBN, and others

April 30: The International Cannabis Bar Association presents the webinar "Collections for Attorneys." Attendance is restricted to attorneys only.