Abstract
In the last decade use of marijuana has skyrocketed. With the legalization of marijuana in states across the country, a nascent but increasingly powerful cannabis industry has formed. This industry has not only introduced cannabis products into the mainstream, but it has created high-THC products more powerful than anything found in nature or previous black markets. These products, including oils, vapes, and edibles, may have health effects that are unlike any risks that researchers have previously identified with cannabis. Science has started to sound the alarm, but the issue has remained unaddressed in the law. Only two states have introduced any regulations of THC levels, and no legal scholarship has examined how the existence of high-potency marijuana and its health effects may change litigation.
This Essay analyzes the potential claims that plaintiff-side litigators and state attorneys general may pursue against companies creating high-THC products. After explaining the current legal and medical research related to high-THC products, the Essay predicts the likelihood of cannabis litigation succeeding. It does so by analyzing two impactful examples of public health litigation: tobacco and opioids. The Essay concludes that litigation can be a useful tool in protecting populations from the harms of high-THC products, but it notes lessons from the tobacco and opioid litigation that plaintiffs can heed to strengthen their lawsuits against the cannabis industry.
Volume
110
Issue
1
Page
61
Recommended Citation
Rebekah Ninan,
Nipping it in the Bud: The Promise and Perils of Tort Litigation in Addressing the Health Harms of High-THC Products,
110
Minn. J. Int'l L
61
(2025).
available at https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/mlr-headnotes/vol110/iss1/3
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
