Nebraska lawyers not going to pot, but they can invest in medical cannabis operations, an advisory panel says | Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — Marijuana could also be unlawful in Nebraska, however a lawyer from the Cornhusker State is free to put money into hashish operations in states the place it’s authorized, a state ethics board is advising.

The eight-member Nebraska Lawyer’s Advisory Committee, which issued an advisory on Thursday, normally weighs in on technical issues regarding the apply of legislation, comparable to whether or not conflicts of pursuits exist and the obligation to characterize shoppers.

However the legalization of medical marijuana in adjoining South Dakota prompted a few questions from a Nebraska legal professional not too long ago.

Guidelines of conduct

The legal professional, who was not named within the advisory opinion, requested if they might put money into a medical hashish enterprise in one other state, the place such marijuana is authorized, with out violating the state’s Guidelines for Skilled Conduct for legal professionals. One other query: In the event that they couldn’t make investments, might their partner?

The lawyer additionally puzzled if they might advise a enterprise proprietor who had staff who lived in a state, like South Dakota or Colorado, the place marijuana was authorized, on employment points?

A break up resolution

The committee, in a break up resolution, mentioned that such investments wouldn’t violate the code of conduct.

The bulk opinion famous that medical marijuana is authorized in 37 states and that Congress has blocked federal authorities from implementing the federal prohibition in opposition to marijuana in states which have deemed it authorized. Nineteen states, two U.S. territories and the District of Columbia have legalized hashish for leisure use, in accordance with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures.

“Merely investing in a hashish firm, which presumably operates inside the bounds of the relevant state legal guidelines, doesn’t in our opinion rise to the extent of a prison act, nor does such conduct replicate adversely on the legal professionals honesty, trustworthiness, or health to apply ….” mentioned the bulk opinion from the advisory committee.

It famous that ethics committees in two different states, New York and Washington State have reached comparable conclusions, and that the committee had no energy to advise non-lawyers, comparable to spouses.

Supreme Court docket ought to weigh in

However dissenters on the committee mentioned the since marijuana is unlawful in Nebraska and technically unlawful federally, it might be an moral breach.

Nevertheless, the dissenters — who weren’t recognized — instructed that the questions be referred to the Nebraska Supreme Court docket so it might handle the difficulty “head on by making a rule upon which Nebraska legal professionals can rely.”

The Supreme Court docket, the dissenters famous, is the “remaining authority” on moral points involving legal professionals.