Well, it looks like cannabis RICO lawsuits are not going to happen any time soon. As an update to this post I wrote in 2020, the Ninth Circuit has just affirmed the dismissal of two RICO claims brought by a cannabis business owner. Background of Shulman v. Kaplan As a quick recap, Plaintiff Francine Shulman
Register Here Harris Sliwoski attorneys, Paul Coble, Griffen Thorne, and Vincent Sliwoski, will be presenting on the “Legal and Regulatory Landscape for Psychedelics” in the following CLE webinar on January 12th, 2023, hosted by The Seminar Group. “This program will provide an overview of emerging drug therapies, including psilocybin, ketamine infusion clinics, MDMA and other
Welcome to the seventh annual “State of the State” post on Oregon cannabis. For the first year since program launch, regulated cannabis sales fell in the state. We also saw significant legislative and regulatory changes, further contraction of the hemp industry and a myriad of interesting odds and ends. Overall, it has been a rocky
Oregon is the first state to launch a regulated psilocybin industry. Following the mid-term election results, we know which cities and counties in the Beaver state will allow licensed psilocybin businesses in 2023. Regulated businesses will fall into three broad categories: manufacturers, testing labs and service centers. All of these psilocybin companies will need leases.
It’s important for a psilocybin business to operate with written agreements, well ahead of licensure. This post explains why. Statutes and common law are “one size fits all” In Oregon, as in all 50 states, companies are subject to statutes that govern their members, managers, shareholders, directors and officers. The statutes are back-filled by common
Last week, we presented a psychedelics webinar entitled “How to Protect Your Psychedelics Business.” The panelists were Paul Coble from our Phoenix office), me (Griffen Thorne from our Los Angeles office), and Graham Pechenik of Calyx Law in San Francisco. In the webinar, we presented on business law and intellectual property issues that will affect
Around this time last year, my colleague, Jesse Mondry, wrote about a District of Colorado case, entitled Sensoria, LLC et al. v. Kaweske, et al. , which involved a group of plaintiffs who sought to recover their investment in a cannabis business, Clover Top Holdings. The underlying set of facts involve an all-too-familiar cannabis investment
I’m guilty of dunking on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the past for not doing more to protect cannabis consumers, despite the current federal illegality of cannabis. That may be changing, at least with respect to CBD consumers. Before diving into this latest development, I should mention that historically, cannabis is treated differently from
On August 17, the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the the holding of the US District Court for the District of Maine that the residency requirements of Maine’s Medical Use Marijuana Act violate the Dormant Commerce Clause (“DCC”). The First Circuit has added itself to the list of jurisdictions that have invalidated similar state
Words, names, symbols, or devices that are used in commerce to identify and distinguish goods or services. Trademark registrations are issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and state agencies, though the USPTO restricts access to trademark registrations for cannabis due to its current federal illegality.
