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.
The U.S. government reopened on Wednesday and promptly “closed the loophole” on intoxicating hemp products. I use those tacky quotes because I don’t believe there ever was a loophole. But now we can stop having those debates, I suppose, because Congress has sealed the deal. The ban on intoxicating hemp items comes via a continuing
Minnesota is the latest state to develop a secondary market for cannabis license sales. I’d call the Minnesota market “robust”, except that the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) hasn’t issued all that many licenses in the first place. Still, one source recently estimated “at least 80” licenses recently posted for sale. It’s a real thing.
We continue to represent myriad buyers and sellers of OLCC marijuana licenses. At any given time, we are running 10-12 of these transactions, and sometimes more, as we have for many years. Recently, there have been a few changes worth noting, particularly as to the OLCC protocols. I’ll touch briefly on other market dynamics, too.
The lower-potency hemp edible licensing window is open, through October 31st Last month, I gave a big picture status update on cannabis licensing in Minnesota, highlighting the application window for lower-potency hemp edible (LPHE) licensing. LPHE products are a very hot market in Minnesota, and have been for a while. The LPHE application window opened
Yesterday late afternoon, Oregon cannabis wholesaler Jefferson Packing House (JPH) filed another dormant commerce clause (DCC) challenge to protectionist state cannabis laws. You can view the complaint here. I say “another” DCC challenge because JPH prosecuted DCC litigation in late 2022; and also because several DCC cannabis lawsuits have been filed in recent years, with
Over the years, I’ve heard many variations on a certain comment I’d like to address. The comment is: “I thought of calling you for the project, but it wasn’t a cannabis matter.” It’s a real gut shot, hearing those innocent words. I fully understand why someone would think they need a non-cannabis attorney to handle
FinCEN drops new marijuana-related business banking data The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a bureau in the U.S. Department of Treasury. Last week, it published updated Marijuana Related Business (MRB) Metrics. The metrics are current through December 2024. The update was a little surprising, in the sense that FinCEN seemed to abandon its regular
We have been on the Minnesota cannabis bandwagon for a while. Like a lot of programs, this one has been slow to roll out, and not without its share of hiccups. That said, it’s not New York, and I still firmly believe that Minnesota could be a great cannabis state. In this post, I’ll give
Last week, President Trump told reporters that his administration was considering rescheduling marijuana, and would make a determination over “the next few weeks.” It was good to hear an update on the issue, because things had stalled out since Trump took office in January. The cannabis industry is accustomed to operating in limbo, of course;
I have helped people buy, sell and invest in hundreds of cannabis businesses. I’ve represented many hundreds more. One thing that makes my job harder, at times, is working with cannabis businesses that have misaligned public records and reporting. There are three pillars of public reporting, or disclosures, that a cannabis business should strive to
