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 lawsuit filed on October 26 against Merrick Garland to “end federal cannabis prohibition” wouldn’t really end federal cannabis prohibition. If you had that impression, it may be because reporting on this topic has been subpar. Many of the headlines are incomplete or downright misleading. Some stories take several paragraphs to explain the actual nature
Can a creditor, landlord or other third party take a security interest in an OLCC license? Can an OLCC licensee collateralize or pledge its license– as if that license were personal property, and not just a permission conferred by the state? These are two sides of an academic question we’ve been batting around for years
Cannabis businesses use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) constantly. This may be due to a series of factors, or some combination thereof: 1) the relative hardship of acquiring and protecting intellectual property over marijuana-related processes and products, today and historically; 2) a general modus operandi of “close to the vest” dealings in an industry that historically was
The internet is littered with writings on the relative merits of corporate forms and tax elections for cannabis businesses. Even the best of these articles are as dull as ditchwater, because the topic is tax. Most of the authors mention subchapter S taxation at some point, and the showier ones may even dredge up cannabis
It’s been a minute since we wrote about the new OLCC tax compliance rules for retailers. These temporary rules require all retailers to certify tax compliance via the Oregon Department of Revenue (DOR) in order to renew or transfer ownership of a marijuana retailer license. OLCC has a pretty good FAQ sheet here, as part
I’m pretty sure that more ink has been spilled on the Secure and Fair Enforcement Act (“SAFE Banking”), than any other proposed cannabis law. It just won’t pass and it just won’t die. Specifically, SAFE Banking was introduced in 2017 and it passed the House seven times (seven times!) with bipartisan support since 2019. The
I’d like to send a shoutout to tax lawyer Nick Richards for an intriguing opinion piece published on Friday, September 1 in Marijuana Business Daily. Nick outlines two approaches to potentially help cannabis businesses recoup buckets of cash from Uncle Sam. One approach, which is known to us, may be utilized by cannabis businesses throughout
Huge news yesterday. Huge! The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially recommended that marijuana be rescheduled, from Schedule I to Schedule III of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). This means that the country’s top health agency has finally conceded that cannabis has medical value, and isn’t a drug of abuse
Most cannabis companies are not wound up properly; some cannabis companies (and their owners) suffer repercussions for this; and all cannabis companies (and their owners, and investors!) are well served by an orderly windup. This blog post will cover some basics on the cannabis business windup process. First, though, I want to address a point
I’ve been writing about the Chalice receivership process since late May, when Chalice Brands Ltd. (OTCMKTS: CHALF) filed an Oregon Circuit Court complaint. In that Oregon lawsuit, Chalice brought claims against five local subsidiaries to drive them into receivership, claiming some $35 million owed. The lawsuit was orchestrated with a parallel Canadian proceeding. Up north,
