We always talk about the cannabis industry being dynamic. That’s true from a markets perspective and it’s true from a regulatory point of view. When it comes to regulations in particular, industry observers tend to focus on the big picture developments: e.g., whether marijuana will finally be re- or de-scheduled at the federal level, whether
We’ve been writing about RICO lawsuits on this blog for a while. These lawsuits are typically brought by neighbors of state-licensed cannabis farms, who allege they are bothered by noise and smells associated with cannabis production, and that their property values have been damaged by extension. Generally speaking, these plaintiffs tend to have strong prohibitionist
Today let’s talk about Matthew Price, the Oregon marijuana businessman headed to jail for tax crimes. This story got a lot of coverage when it broke last month, partly because it was the first known tax-related prosecution for a licensed pot business owner, and partly because Price was fairly well known in Oregon. He once
Recently, the City of Portland announced that it would lower cannabis business licensing fees. Most notably, retail license fees have been reduced from $4,975 to $3,500, in line with other license types. That is still too steep (especially considering the state licensing fees), and although the City has cleaned up its process over the past
Marijuana has been legal in Oregon for about three years now. Employees with specialized skills are starting to jump ship and head to competitors. What do you do, as an employer, if a candidate for employment shows you a non-competition agreement they signed with their former employer? Typically, the former employer will go after the
We recently wrote about the new Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) rules for marijuana businesses, and observed that those rules were issued with the stated intent to stave off diversion of cannabis. In addition to its public-facing actions, we have seen an apparent shift in internal OLCC review policies and procedures. A few weeks ago,
In recent posts, we’ve discussed cases where a neighbor to a cannabis grow sued the grower for nuisance, claiming that growing cannabis interfered with the neighbor’s use of their land. See here, here, here, here, and here. These lawsuits relied on the non-cannabis landowner’s claims that the federally illegal cannabis business caused harm because of odor, disruptive
Poor Josephine County. We have been writing on this blog about the southern Oregon county’s mounting frustrations with cannabis, its successive losses in litigation, and its most recent attempt in federal district court to submarine Oregon’s cannabis programs. We immediately identified this lawsuit as a “stunning overreach” and we predicted the county would lose. To
This past year, the country has witnessed widespread interest in the use of cannabis in its nutraceutical (when added to food or drinks) form. Cannabidiol (“CBD”), the non-psychoactive chemical compound found in the cannabis plant, has gained great popularity among alcohol beverage companies. The growing popularity of CBD-infused products combined with their mainstream nature has
In the past year, we have seen a remarkable uptick in individuals and businesses pursuing Oregon industrial hemp production, processing and sale. This accelerated interest has coincided with the CBD craze, and fortunately, Oregon has been working steadily to build out its hemp program over the past year or two. Today’s blog post answers some
