Vicente LLP Founding Partner Brian Vicente Will Discuss His Cannabis Law Achievements During Grinnell College Alumni Award Recipient Panel
May 8, 2024
2024 Grinnell College Class of 1999 Alumni Award Recipients Panel
In January 2024, Vicente LLP founding partner Brian Vicente was selected as a 2024 Grinnell College Alumni Award recipient. The Alumni Award recognizes individuals who embody Grinnell College’s mission of lifetime learning and service. Nominated by their classmates and peers, recipients have made significant contributions to their professions, communities, or to Grinnell College itself.
In recognition of this achievement, Brian Vicente will participate in the Class of 1999 Alumni Award Recipients Panel during the 2024 Grinnell College Reunion on Friday, May 31, 2024. The panel discussion will focus on Brian’s extensive work in cannabis law since his graduation from Grinnell.
About Brian Vicente
Vicente LLP Founding Partner Brian Vicente has been helping marijuana businesses obtain state and local licenses since the inception of the regulated cannabis industry — an industry he has played a significant role in shaping. He has also advised national, state, and local government officials in the development of regulated cannabis markets across the country and around the world, including in Uruguay, the first country in the world to legalize and regulate marijuana for adult use. In late 2018, newly elected Colorado Gov. Jared Polis selected Brian to serve as a member of his gubernatorial transition team, where he sat on the Economic Development and Labor Committee.
Brian was a lead drafter of Colorado's historic legalization initiative, Amendment 64, and he co-directed the successful campaign in support of it. He also served as chair of the Committee for Responsible Regulation, which coordinated the successful campaign to implement statewide excise and sales taxes on adult-use marijuana in Colorado. Previously, Brian served as executive director of Sensible Colorado, a leading nonprofit organization advocating for medical marijuana patients and providers in Colorado. During this time, he played an integral role in litigation that opened the door for medical cannabis dispensaries to open in the state, as well as the legislative process that resulted in Colorado becoming the first state to establish a regulated system of medical cannabis production and distribution.