The coming New Year heralded new administrative regulations for marijuana in the State of Oregon. These changes came through the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) rulemaking process. That process, in turn, stems from cannabis laws passed by the Oregon legislature earlier this year. Common Ownership Issues Common Ownership Definition Oregon allows verticality in its
If you are suing your cannabis insurer, read this first. The venue in which you plan to file is of the utmost importance. The status of marijuana as a schedule I narcotic has made cannabis insurance litigation a bit of a chess match. Many cannabis businesses enjoy the benefits of state legalization and the ability
Parody is a tricky defense to cannabis trademark infringement, or to any infringement allegation whatsoever. For some background on this, check out our posts here, here and here. Still, people riff off established trademarks all the time, and when pursued, they often raise the parody defense. In the cannabis context, this happened most recently in
I really fought myself on putting together a festivus post of all that went wrong for the cannabis industry in 2021. Instead, I want to focus on the positives for 2022 as the industry continues to mature and expand across the U.S. and abroad. As 2021 comes to a close, here’s what I’m looking forward
Welcome to the sixth annual “State of the State” post on Oregon cannabis. This year was relatively staid compared to 2020, but key features included: a plateau in pricing and regulated sales; intensifying local competition; important new laws, administrative rules and policies; a hollowed out hemp market; and some interesting large company activity. Sales look
Vapes. E-cigarettes. Mexico! Like a lot of people, my brother-in-law is trying to quit smoking. And like a lot of people, he’s not having much success. Which is why a few weeks ago I was sitting in the dining room of a hotel in Florida and he was standing outside on the balcony, sucking on
Here’s a scenario our cannabis lawyers and litigation team have experienced countless times: A client calls and wants to take immediate action for breach of a cannabis contract. They want to terminate the contract. Or evict a tenant. Or file a lawsuit. The first question I always ask these clients is whether the contract contains
For the past year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has directed its attention to the cannabis industry– in a helpful way! This includes promulgation of cannabis tax guidelines as well as webinars and public forums dedicated to tax compliance for marijuana businesses (together, the “Guidelines”). The stated IRS goal here is “to positively impact filing
Ask any good lawyer the question, “is cannabis corporate governance important?” The answer will be a resounding yes. So why is it often ignored? Why do so many cannabis businesses treat governance as a box to tick on a checklist just once? Here’s a fact pattern our cannabis attorneys have seen time and time again:
California cannabis taxes continue to plague the industry. California cannabis taxes are undoubtedly high (although not the highest in the country). The truth is that that’s not changing anytime soon. A few weeks ago, I did an interview with KCRW where operators bemoaned the current California cannabis tax situation. Their complaints are warranted given the
