Snoop Dogg’s signature phrase “Smoke Weed Everyday” cannot be trademarked by the artist because marijuana remains illegal and the slogan has become too popular in mainstream culture, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) says.

Dr. ETC Holdco, LLC—the entity affiliated with Snoop that owns his intellectual property portfolio—filed a trademark application for the phrase in 2024. Then, almost two years later, he received a denial letter from the USPTO on Tuesday.

The federal agency under the US Department of Commerce gave two main reasons for the rejection: 1) Goods and services marketed under a trademark must comply with federal law, and “the application includes elements or activities that inherently violate federal law,” and 2) the phrase comes from a “lyric of a song commonly associated with the use of cannabis.”

“To be federally registered, the use of a mark in commerce must be lawful under federal law because the commerce cited in the application complies with applicable federal laws governing the identified goods and/or services,” the USPTO said. “If the goods or services for which a trademark is intended to be used are prohibited by law, the applicant cannot use his trademark in lawful commerce, nor does he have the necessary intent to use the trademark in lawful commerce.”

The letter also explains how certain hemp-related terms and phrases may be eligible for trademark registration, unlike marijuana-related ones, because hemp and its derivatives were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill. However, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has refused to enact regulations allowing cannabinoids such as CBD to be legally marketed as food or dietary supplements, the USTPO said it would deny trademark applications for these products.

The agency’s denial letter also said it denied registration because “the mark applied for is a slogan or term that does not function as a trademark or service mark to indicate the source of the applicant’s goods and/or services and to identify and distinguish them from others.”

“In this case, the requested mark is a social, political, religious or similar informational message that conveys nothing more than adherence to, admiration for, or affiliation with the ideals conveyed by the message,” he said. “Terms and phrases that contain only an informational message cannot be registered.”

To support its case, the USTPO provided examples of the phrase “Smoke Weed Everyday” on various products sold by retailers such as Amazon, Weed Dreams and Red Bubble.

“Because consumers are accustomed to seeing this term or phrase used in ordinary language in various sources, they would not perceive it as a mark that identifies the source of the applicant’s goods and/or services, but only as conveying an informational message.” he said.

Josh Gerben, attorney and co-founder of Gerben IP, he said Snoop’s company denied in a USTPO blog post that it may appeal the decision, but the “most difficult” challenge the case presents is “the federal legality surrounding the sale of cannabis.”

“The application identifies retail services that contain cannabis products,” he said. “Under current Federal law, marijuana remains illegal, and the USPTO routinely declines applications related to illegal goods or services.”

“Taken together, the naysayers create an uphill battle,” Gerben said. “Fortunately for Snoop Dogg, this waiver only affects the registration of the mark … not the activity celebrated by the famous phrase.”

Meanwhile, Snoop has been gradually expanding his cannabis business in recent years. For example, last year, he It brought another direct-to-consumer hemp lifestyle platform to market under his Death Row Records label.

In 2024, the artist also expanded his Smoke Weed Every Day (SWED) brand with a separate retail platform for consumers. sells hemp-derived cannabinoid products, smoking supplies and other merchandise.

This platform also functions as a directory SWED’s physical retail marijuana locations, including the Los Angeles dispensary and a Cafe in Amsterdamboth were announced in 2024.

Snoop, who has referenced marijuana in songs and other performances for decades, has remained a cultural fixture in the cannabis community as the drug has become more widespread. Today, he regularly talks about his relationship with marijuana in interviews and television appearances.

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2024, Snoop confirmed In his entourage there is a staff member who is responsible for keeping people who smoke from getting too highwhen they have reached the limit saying “it is enough”.

It is unclear who Snoop is paying over $50,000 a year to draw blunts for him. Snoop estimated in 2019 that he consumed 81 blunts a day.

in 2024, while the artist took on a new role as a guest meteorologist on the TODAY Showviewers through a custom marijuana-themed weather map featuring the cities of Weed, California and Tokeland, Washington, High Point, North Carolina, and Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel acknowledged Snoop’s cannabis legacy in 2023 the artist’s birthday, October 20, was called “a new high holiday”. DoggFather’s Day.

While he may be known as a lavish consumer, Snoop has championed reform, meaning Calling for a policy change in the NBA to allow players to freely use cannabis off the court

He said he supported reform “on the medical side, on health benefits and on opioids and the pills and injections that are given.”

Snoop has long been supporting athletic organizations to adopt soft marijuana policiesoften emphasizing the point that cannabis can serve as a less addictive and risky alternative to prescription opioids.

The artist previously launched another brand of marijuana, called Leafs By Snoop, in Colorado in 2015.

Image courtesy of TechCrunch.

The Hawaii Senate has passed a bill to allow qualified patients access to medical marijuana in health care facilities.

After receiving a favorable report in committee last week, Sen. Joy San Buenaventura’s (D) legislation advanced to the full floor on Tuesday as part of the consensus schedule with a 25-0 vote. A The version of the house proposal has also moved in this session.

The bill states, “It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this chapter to protect the ability of terminally ill patients and chronically ill patients over the age of sixty-five to safely use medical cannabis in specified health care facilities.”

Advocates would like the order to allow health facilities to use medical cannabis, but as written the policy would only allow those, exempting residential treatment centers from the proposed law.

Other exceptions contained in the legislation, SB 2408that medical marijuana may not be used for substance abuse recovery in hospitals, state hospitals or acute general hospital emergency departments “while the patient is receiving emergency services and care.”

Under the proposal, smoking and vaping of cannabis would be prohibited in health care facilities, “provided that the home health agency prohibits smoking or vaping before or during the home health agency staff’s stay at the facility.”

General acute care hospitals could not allow patients with a chronic illness to use medical cannabis unless they were terminally ill.

If a federal regulatory agency, the Department of Justice, or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) takes enforcement action against a health care facility related to its medical cannabis policy, or specifically notifies the facility that it is violating federal law, the health care facility may rescind the policy.

Meanwhile, last week, another Hawaii Senate committee passed a bill allow patients immediate access to medical cannabis once records are submittedinstead of waiting for the cards to be delivered, as is the case under current legislation.

Buenaventura, the head of the Health and Human Services Committee, is also a sponsor of his chamber’s version of the proposal. More of his panels has just passed legislation to legalize low-dose, low-potency marijuanaeven as their peers in the House of Representatives have said, the prohibition of cannabis in the state will not end this year.

The legislation would allow adults over the age of 21 to legally possess and use certain amounts of low-dose, low-THC cannabis, with the product limited to no more than 5 milligrams of THC per serving. In liquid form, twelve ounces can contain 5 milligrams of THC.

Senate committee action follows Senior lawmakers in the House indicated that proposals to legalize cannabis would not move forward In the 2026 session, citing the lack of sufficient support in their chamber.

Despite hopes that those bills – including one from House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee Chairman David Tarnas (D) that would put legalization before voters on the ballot – would advance this year, sponsor and House Speaker Nadine Nakamura (D) said there was not enough support in the legislature to pass this round.

State officials released a report in January the potential economic impact of recreational marijuana legalization on the stateincluding the revenue effects associated with domestic and international tourism.

All told, the researchers said survey data and comparative analysis indicate Hawaii could see $46-90 million in monthly marijuana sales in the fifth year of implementation, after taking into account the maximum tax rate of 15 percent on cannabis products.

The Hawaii Senate narrowly defeated a proposal last year that would have increased the amount of cannabis a person could possess without risk of criminal charges by five times.

If the measure had become law, the amount of decriminalized cannabis in Hawaii would have increased from the current 3 grams to 15 grams. Possession of any marijuana up to that 15-gram limit would have been classified as a civil infraction, punishable by a $130 fine.

The Senate bill that would legalize marijuana for adults, on the other hand, has finally stalled. That measure, SB 1613, did not make it out of committee during one term of the legislature.

While advocates believed there was sufficient support for the legalization proposal in the Senate, it is widely believed that House lawmakers would ultimately defeat the measure, as they did last February with a companion legislative bill, HB 1246.

In 2024, a The legislation passed by the Senate also failed in the House.

It came just days after last year’s House vote to stop the bill approval of a pair of committees at a joint hearing. Prior to that hearing, jurors received nearly 300 pages of testimony, including from state agencies, advocacy organizations and members of the public.

Gov. Josh Green (D) signed separate legislation last year allow medical marijuana caregivers to grow marijuana on behalf of five patients than the current one.

And in July, the governor signed another bill Establishes several new rules for Hawaiian hemp productsincluding the requirement for distributors and retailers to obtain registration from the Department of Health.

Legislators also sent a bill to the governor help speed up the expungement process for people who want to clear their past marijuana-related criminal records– a proposal Green signed the law last April.

This measure, HB 132, of Tarnas, aims to speed up the abolition Green’s pilot program signed into law in 2024. Specifically, it will eliminate a distinction between marijuana and other Schedule V drugs for the purposes of the decriminalization program.

The bill’s sponsors said the law’s current wording forces state officials to manually comb through thousands of criminal records to identify those eligible for expungement in the pilot program.

Meanwhile, in November, Hawaii officials detailed the rules allow medical marijuana dispensaries to sell a wide range of products for patients— including dry herb vaporizers, rolling papers and grinders — while revising state code to clarify that cannabis oils and concentrates can be marketed for inhalation.

The department as well He confirmed that he is in favor of federal marijuana reorganization– The policy change that President Donald Trump ordered to be carried out quickly, but which has not yet been implemented.

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Regulators are also launching a series of courses designed for this purpose educate doctors and other healthcare professionals about medical marijuana as the state’s cannabis program expands.

The under the medical marijuana expansion bill signed by the governor In late June, it not only makes cannabis easier for more patients to access, but also contains a provision that advocates find problematic.

Before lawmakers sent the legislation to Green, a conference committee revised the plan, including a provision allowing the DOH to access medical marijuana patient records held by doctors for any reason.

user photo Brian Shamblen.