State and Local Government & Policy

Crafting effective marijuana and hemp laws and regulations requires specialized knowledge that few governmental entities possess. Vicente LLP has been working at the intersection of cannabis, law, and commerce for over a decade, and we are uniquely qualified to assist local, state, and national governments with their cannabis, hemp, and psychedelics policy and economics needs.

Led by Jennifer Flanagan, who has unique experience as a state-elected official, cannabis regulator and public health advocate, the Vicente team provides a full suite of legal and advisory services to assist governmental bodies with the development and implementation of laws and regulations governing medical cannabis, adult-use cannabis, hemp, and psychedelics with a focus on public health and safety objectives and efficient administration. We also have an in-house Economics & Research department, which uses policy research and proprietary projection models rooted in economic theory and statistical analysis to inform regulatory policymaking across all sectors.

As a leader in the cannabis policy and business communities, Vicente LLP has been intimately involved in shaping marijuana, hemp, and psychedelics laws and regulations, as well as standards and best practices for those fields. We have extensive experience identifying core legal and regulatory issues and crafting solutions that balance competing concerns and are still effective in practice. We understand where and how laws are working and how they can be improved upon, and we work with public sector clients to produce policies that are mindful of potential compliance, implementation, and enforcement issues.

LEADERSHIP

Jennifer Flanagan

Senior Advisor

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Services

Select a category below to learn more about our government and policy services.

Laws & Regulations

Because each government and community is unique, our services are tailored to the individual needs of each public-sector client. We offer comprehensive guidance on a wide variety of subjects, including:

Licensing
Testing
Delivery
Product safety
Social use
Hemp and CBD
Operational regulations
Seed-to-sale tracking
Packaging and labeling
Community plans
Social equity plans
Tax and fee structures

We work collaboratively with stakeholders to identify the broad range of interests that exist and to create policies that match the desires of your administration and the needs of your community. Depending on your specific needs, our assistance can be limited to providing recommendations or comments on a single draft or existing policy, or it may cover the entire drafting process from planning to passage, with ongoing advisory, analytical, and drafting services.

Research & Analysis

Our analytical services are customized to meet the individual needs of each public-sector client and provide a data-driven basis for their marijuana policy decisions. We provide a wide range of market, policy, economic, financial, and statistical research, including:

Statewide economic projections of medical and adult-use cannabis markets
Demand forecasting for state cannabis programs
Tax revenue projections and economic impact modeling
Production control model evaluation
Medical cannabis patient population analysis and growth models
National research on regulatory issues facing different cannabis products and services

Experience

Vicente LLP was founded in Colorado in 2010, and its founding partners played a key role in the state's establishment of the nation's first regulated medical cannabis market. Attorneys at Vicente LLP then led the drafting of Amendment 64, which established Colorado's adult-use cannabis market; served on the governor’s Amendment 64 Implementation Task Force; and chaired many of the Marijuana Enforcement Division’s highly successful negotiated rulemaking working groups. Through working group participation and our professional relationships with prominent state and local officials, Vicente LLP has continued to shape the regulations under which the Colorado cannabis system operates.

Today, our opinions are not just sought out and respected in Colorado, but in other states and even in other countries. Members of our team have:

Advised lawmakers and regulators from jurisdictions across the U.S., as well as in more than a dozen countries spanning four continents
Assisted advocates in drafting several successful cannabis-related ballot initiatives
Assisted elected officials in Guam with an overhaul of the territory’s medical cannabis statute and development of a comprehensive adult-use legalization bill
Provided the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Economic Research and the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce with economic analysis and policy guidance that aided in the establishment of a regulatory system for medical cannabis; assistance included drafting, comments, testimony, and ongoing consulting to help officials better understand several issues, including the domestic and tourism markets for medical cannabis and the unique legal and regulatory difficulties posed by the islands' geography
Assisted Texas legislative staff with the drafting of an interim report on establishing a regulated hemp market; then worked with lawmakers and staff on a successful bill to legalize and regulate hemp in Texas
Led the drafting of the American Hemp Campaign's model plan for state hemp programs, which has assisted policymakers in the development of hemp regulatory regimes across the U.S.
Engaged with Pueblo County (CO) to assist with drafting ordinances and regulations governing personal cultivation, social use, and the cultivation of industrial hemp
Engaged with the City of Cathedral City (CA) to assist in its development of comprehensive medical cannabis regulations under MCRSA, including facilitation of community and City Council question and comment, policy advisement, drafting, and implementation
Consulted with the City of Santa Rosa (CA) in preparing medical cannabis policies, including policy presentations to community and Council meetings, advisement on the intersect of MCRSA, the Compassionate Use Act/SB 420, and AUMA, and development of the city’s prospective comprehensive medical cannabis regulations in close coordination with city staff
Assisted the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries with public policy memos that lent to the passage of legislation in British Columbia that was designed to facilitate the transition of unregulated medical cannabis dispensaries into regulated adult-use cannabis retail stores
Organizing comprehensive cannabis fact-finding trips to Colorado for dozens of local, state, and national government officials from around the country and across the globe, including exclusive tours of licensed facilities; private meetings with Colorado’s key regulators, decision makers, and experts; and in-depth cannabis policy briefings and ongoing advisory services