Legal challenges for the cannabis industry

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Emerald in Journal of Money Laundering Control on 13/01/2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-06-2019-0049 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Purpose-This paper examines laws and regulations applicable to cannabis in the US and the UK, and including legal reforms and international treaty obligations. Design/methodology/approach-The paper relies on primary data from statutes, and secondary data from online and offline resources, and including relevant case studies. Findings-Federal laws in the US and existing UK cannabis legal regime generally prohibit recreational use of cannabis. Increasingly, various individual states in the US have enabled the use of cannabis health-related uses thereby challenging the status of the UN treaties on drug enforcement. As US struggles to reconcile the conflicts between federal law on cannabis and individual states within its borders, much of the rest of the world including the UK are also struggling with how best to reconcile their domestic positions with their UN treaty obligations. Social Implications-Recent disclosures of past recreational use of prohibited drugs by several candidates vying to be UK Prime Minister suggests why understanding of the laws governing the use of cannabis is useful and relevant to the general public. Originality-The paper provide a general but integrated review of national laws in the US and the UK, and international treaties governing the use of cannabis