Vince is an award-winning business lawyer, problem solver and dealmaker. His clients run the gamut from individual investors and entrepreneurs to widely held domestic and international corporations. Based in Portland, Oregon, he is Managing Partner of Harris Sliwoski and Editor of the Canna Law Blog and the Psychedelics Law Blog.
Running a cannabis business is difficult and many people fail. These ventures bottom out for myriad reasons, although owners tend to blame federal law issues first of all. It’s true that federal law creates a tough environment for cannabis businesses (tax issues, market saturation, geographic constraints, etc.), but federal prohibition also has kept big money
Time for another Oregon cannabis roundup. Time to cover some important legislative and OLCC updates, specifically. Legislative updates Senate Bill 558 Governor Tina Kotek signed this bill into law last week, on May 28th. There are some key differences to the law signed by Kotek and the version of SB 558 that I previewed in
In fall of 2023 I wrote about the lawsuit to end federal prohibition that wouldn’t really end federal prohibition. Last July, a federal district court ruled against Canna Provisions et al. in that case. On Wednesday, May 27th, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s ruling. The First Circuit decision means the
In cannabis contract negotiations, it’s common for the parties to execute an early-stage document called a letter of intent (“LOI”). An LOI may also be called a term sheet; naming it one over the other has no legal significance. I love these little agreements and today I will tell you why. LOIs are used in
The Oregon District Court issued a ruling today which “PERMANENTLY ENJOINS AND RESTRAINS” the OLCC and other State actors from enforcing Measure 119 against Bubble’s Hash and Ascend Dispensary, the plaintiffs that sued over BM 119’s constitutionality. You can view Judge Simon’s Opinion and Order here, and the Judgment here. BM 119 required most Oregon
I don’t know how it came to be, exactly, but I’ve spent countless hours of my adult working life aiding due diligence on cannabis transactions. These transactions involve all kinds of companies, from sole proprietorships to public companies, and a variety of deals–from leasing, to financing, to good old M&A. Today, I’ll cover how diligence
Hopefully this is the penultimate time I’ll write about Ballot Measure 119. Hopefully, some three weeks from now, I’ll publish one last post explaining that this landgrab initiative was annihilated, judicially speaking. The recent Federal Court hearing On April 29th, Judge Michael H. Simon heard arguments from the UFCW 555 and the Oregon Department of
There are many ways to set up a cannabis business, and we like to think that we’ve seen them all. But there’s probably no worse category than 50/50 ownership of a business– a recipe for all sorts of disasters. Let’s look and why that is, and some ways to avoid it. What 50/50 ownership means,
We always say we aren’t giving legal advice on this blog. Here’s some, though: don’t use or sign a contract given to you by a broker for a transaction, unless that broker is a real estate broker, and unless the form is a real estate purchase agreement. Even then, you almost certainly want lawyer eyes
Surprising no one, recent findings show that most hemp products sold in Oregon run hot. By this I mean they are generally designed to get you lit. These products are often sold and marketed online without age verification, in packaging attractive to minors, or at unlicensed retail stores. Most labels lack clear potency information, and
