The New York State Bar Association has announced in an ethics opinion that lawyers may provide legal services to clients in compliance with the state’s new recreational marijuana law.
In the July 8 opinion, the bar association pointed out that while marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, 17 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam have legalized its recreational use since 2012. “It seems fair to say that for nearly a decade federal forbearance in the enforcement of federal narcotics laws has been equally applied to state laws legalizing recreational marijuana and to state laws legalizing medical marijuana,” the bar association said.
