US appeals court rejects challenge to federal marijuana ban | Cannabis Law Report | How to order Skittles Moonrock online

• 1st Circuit rejects David Boies-backed challenge
• Supreme Court upheld federal ban on marijuana in 2005
• Plaintiffs argued policy changes since then undercut ruling

Lawyers for the cannabis businesses including prominent litigator David Boies had argued that Congress has abandoned its goal of controlling all marijuana in interstate commerce, which they said was a key predicate of the Supreme Court’s holding.

In that case, Gonzales v. Raich, the high court held that under the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, Congress had the authority to criminalize the possession and use of marijuana even in states that permit its use for medical purposes as it did in the Controlled Substances Act.

Today, 38 states, including Massachusetts, have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use, and under the Rohrabacher-Farr Amendments that have been included in annual appropriation bills since 2014, the Justice Department may not spend funds to interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

Boies during arguments in December also pointed to Congress’ decision in 2010 to permit medical marijuana in the District of Columbia.

But Chief U.S. Circuit Judge David Barron, writing for a three-judge panel, said that the so-called appropriations rider was of “limited scope” and did not apply to the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for non-medical purposes.