Vince Sliwoski

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.

cannabis banking

A New Angle on Cannabis Banking Protections

Sometimes I’ll write about cannabis banking when I’m working on a project for a bank or credit union, but newsworthy developments on cannabis banking seldom seem to drop. Yesterday, however, we had a development worth covering: a Congressional Subcommittee added cannabis banking protections to a critical government spending bill. A GOP-chaired Subcommittee, no less. Marijuana

marijuana-specific controls

F*** the Treaties: Rescheduling and “Marijuana-Specific Controls”

Marijuana-specific controls in schedule III? The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) last week to much fanfare. The NOPR would reschedule marijuana, “marijuana extract” and “naturally derived delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinols” from schedule I to schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). But that’s not all. In my very quick analysis

schedule III

BREAKING NEWS: DEA Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Move Marijuana to Schedule III

Today is another historic day in the history of cannabis control and regulation. In a much anticipated announcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to reschedule marijuana, from Controlled Substances Act (CSA) schedule I to schedule III (the “Proposed Rule”). We have covered the implications of a schedule III placement

reschedule

Yesterday’s Marijuana Rescheduling News, Explained

Yesterday, some big news dropped that the cannabis industry has anticipated since last summer. I take issue with some of the headlines, so here’s mine: “DEA Reportedly Agrees to Initiate Proposed Rulemaking to Reschedule Marijuana…”. Clearly, I’m a lawyer and not a reporter, but the “Reportedly” and “Initiate Proposed Rulemaking” are key considerations here at

hb 4121 mortatorium

Oregon Cannabis License Moratorium: Almost There

It looks like a permanent Oregon cannabis license moratorium will finally take effect. I say “looks like” because key contingencies are still in play and, although things look promising, it could also get dicey as of March 31st— or even sooner. In this post, I’ll explain what’s going on with House Bill 4121, which is

thca

Thoughts on THCA, Interstate Sales…. and Oregon

Friend of the firm Andrew DeWeese published a recent LinkedIn post on Oregon’s outlying stance on THCA the other day, and the priorities of local industry advocates. I wanted to highlight that post and discuss today– it’s a compelling post and I have all sorts of thoughts about it. Here it is: Let’s break it

oregon cannabis legislative

Oregon Cannabis 2024: Legislative Forecast and Report

The 2024 Oregon legislative session kicked off yesterday. It’s a short session this year, with adjournment sine die set for March 10. Whatever hasn’t passed by that day will be scuttled to 2025, or fade to black entirely. This year, we have but one cannabis bill to cover– unless you count HB 4093, which would

nikki haley

Grading the Presidential Candidates on Cannabis: Nikki Haley

Welcome to part three in our series on cannabis and those who wish to lead us. In the first two posts, we covered Joe Biden (we gave him a “C”) and Ron DeSantis (R.I.P.; we gave him a “C+”). Today’s subject is Republican candidate Nikki Haley. She’s still around as of this writing and I’m

mlk

MLK Day: Cannabis and Civil Rights

Last fall, I came across a memorable opinion piece by Steven King (paywalled), a guy who has written some 10 million words in his career. This particular piece was four short paragraphs, however. Seven sentences. It addressed mass shootings in the United States and it was uncharacteristically short because King concluded that the problem, though

biden cannabis

Grading the Presidential Candidates on Cannabis: Joe Biden

Gentle readers, once again we find ourselves in a Presidential election year. Feel free to join me in tuning out the deluge of reporting and social media as to matters you cannot control in the slightest, and which are mostly negative and discouraging. Except for this blog post, which I promise will be great. In