Page 32 - BusinessWest March 7, 2022

Cannabis
Joint Concerns
WNE’s Julie Steiner Has Led the
Way in Cannabis-law Education
As a law professor, Julie Steiner saw the thorny issues raised by cannabis legalization in Massachusetts — and
the way it conflicted with federal law — very early in the process and turned it into a passion of sorts, not only educating students at Western New England University School of Law, but bringing other educational resources to the region and becoming a go-to resource on the topic of cannabis law. Yet, it’s not just legal nuts and bolts she’s interested in, but the real people impacted by a drug-regulation history in the U.S. that’s problematic at best — and still evolving.
By Joseph Bednar
J
ulie Steiner has been interested in the connections — and, often, the contradic- tions — between the fields of law and cannabis for a long time.
And when momentum was building in Massachusetts to legalize adult-use can- nabis, just a few years after medical marijuana was given the green light, she really
started thinking about the implications.
“Lawyers raise their hand and swear to uphold the law of the United States,” said
Steiner, professor of Law at Western New England University (WNE) School of Law. “But cannabis is federally illegal, even though it’s technically legal in Massachusetts. How are lawyers to navigate this whole murky system?”
Based on informal conversations with her colleagues, plenty of law professionals were fascinated by this topic — and unsure how the practice of law could deal with the emerg- ing business of cannabis.
“It was getting off the ground in Colorado and Washington recreationally, so we had those two states to look at,” Steiner told BusinessWest. “But there was a dearth of scholar- ship. It was such an interesting time, really. Back then, support for legalization wasn’t as strong as it is now. In law, there was concern about clients and lawyers being prosecuted under RICO statutes.
“I called it the Wild West,” she went on. “The state bar association in Colorado had taken the stance that you can advise on the law, but since it’s federally illegal, if you actually started advising clients through the process of licensure, you risked bar sanc-
32 MARCH 7, 2022 CANNABIS BusinessWest