NY State Bar News Medical Marijuana Article Features Food & Drug Attorneys

April 2, 2015

The article, titled “Legalizing medical marijuana in NY creates ethical issues,” highlights the difficulties arising when state law contradicts federal law; medical marijuana was legalized by New York’s passage of its Compassionate Care Act in 2014, but the federal Controlled Substances Act still deems it a Schedule 1 drug and therefore illegal in every form. Essentially, the article highlights the ethical concerns associated with lawyers representing clients in the medical marijuana industry. A photo accompanying the article features McGuireWoods senior counsel Brian Malkin − who chairs the New York State Bar Association’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law Section − as well as John F. Dunn, a partner with McGuireWoods and McGuireWoods Consulting. Dunn spoke as part of a panel discussing this issue at the New York State Bar Association’s annual meeting. The article appears in the March/April 2015 edition of the association’s publication, State Bar News.