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OREGON: OLCC Commission Takes Step to Continue Curbside Delivery

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Begins Process to Ban Additives in Inhalable Cannabis Products

Commissioners Also Approve Marijuana Licensee Stipulated Settlements

 

OREGON:  At its regular monthly meeting on June 18, 2020, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission moved to extend the ability of licensed marijuana retailers to continue curbside delivery, and took the first step towards adopting rules that would ban non-cannabis additives from inhalable cannabis products.  Commissioners also approved six marijuana violation stipulated settlement agreements.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic the OLCC, in order to promote social distancing required under the Governor’s Executive Orders, approved a temporary rule allowing licensed marijuana retailers to make “curbside delivery” within the immediate vicinity of their licensed (premises) retail store. That temporary rule expires in September 2020 and cannot be extended with another temporary rule.

Because the duration of the pandemic remains unknown, measures aimed at accommodating social distancing requirements and minimizing person-to-person contact remain critical to protecting public health. The proposed rule provides licensed marijuana retailers flexibility in how they can deliver to consumers at their licensed premises.

In the fall of 2019, a number of Oregonians suffered from the outbreak of vaping-associated lung injury (VALI) linked in part to inhalable cannabis products.  As of March, 2020, Oregon had 23 reported cases of VALI, including two fatalities.  VALI has been tentatively linked to additives combined with cannabis oil.

Commission staff are attempting to address consumer product safety concerns by prohibiting all processed non-cannabis additives from being added to inhalable cannabis products. Non-cannabis vaping additives are used in cannabis vaping products for a variety of purposes, including dilution, flavor, and effects.  However, non-cannabis additives are not necessary to make a vape product work with vaping technology.

Although the additives may be generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for ingestion, the same cannot be said for their inhalation. There is no regulatory body that evaluates the safety of these ingredients when inhaled, and additive makers do not disclose all of their ingredients due to trade secret concerns.

The Commission also ratified the following violation fines and suspensions based on stipulated settlements (detailed information on specific cases can be found here on the OLCC website):

  • MAHALO in Hillsboro will pay a fine of $3,795 OR serve a 23-day recreational marijuana retailer license suspension for one violation.

Licensee is: Mahalo, Inc.; Frankie Powell, President/Secretary/Director/Stockholder.

  • PLANE JANE DISPENSARY in Portland will serve a 30-day recreational marijuana retailer license suspension OR pay a fine of $3,795 AND serve a seven-day suspension for one violation.

Licensees are: Plane Janes’ LLC; Patricia Wiegele, Member.

  • MYLES MYERS will pay a fine of $750 OR serve a 30-day marijuana worker permit suspension for one violation.

Marijuana Worker Permit #393L5E.

  • GREEN BOX in Portland will pay a fine of $2,640 OR serve a 16-day recreational marijuana retailer license suspension for two violations.

Licensees are: Green Box, LLC; Adrian Wayman, Member; Robert Wayman, Member.

  • PARADISE FOUND in Portland will pay a fine of $10,230 OR serve a 62-day recreational marijuana retailer license suspension for two violations.

Licensees are:  JIMO Holdings, LLC; Joseph Cohen, Member; Idan Magal, Member; Arman Daytian, Member/Manager.

  • WINDS OF CHANGE* will surrender its recreational marijuana producer license suspension for eight violations.

Licensees are:  Winds of Change, LLC; James McQuade, Member.

Marijuana Businesses Are Raking In Money—And The IRS Will Take Most Of It

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OREGON: The line along Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard looked like a windfall for Farma.

A crowd started gathering outside the Portland medical-marijuana dispensary shortly before 10 am on Oct. 1, the first day of legal recreational pot sales in Oregon. By the end of the day, more than 250 customers at Farma bought weed at $70 a quarter-ounce.

But Farma co-owner Jeremy Plumb isn’t expecting to keep much of the money.

“People don’t understand,” Plumb says. “They see this huge volume of business and they think we must be making money hand over fist.”

The long lines and eager customers at Portland’s pot dispensaries this week disguise a bitter financial reality: Much of the cash from Oregon’s legal weed sales is being inhaled by the Internal Revenue Service.

Parties, Discounts To Mark Start Of Pot Sales In Oregon

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OREGON: Discounts on pot, free food for folks with the munchies and live music will usher in a historic day for Oregon and for marijuana advocates across the country on Thursday, as recreational sales of the drug that is still illegal under federal law begin in the state.

Oregon is one of four states that have legalized the sale of recreational marijuana. It will start with far more dispensaries than did Colorado or Washington state, where pot shops have been up and running for more than a year. Alaska could begin retail sales next year.

Pot shops in Oregon that already sell medical marijuana have made big plans for the historic day – and hope there is enough supply to meet what is expected to be a huge demand.

“I’m just trying to basically stock up for maybe four or five times what the normal volume would be,” said Chris Byers, owner of River City Dispensary in the southern Oregon town of Merlin.

 

Oregon Considers Rules For Marijuana Grow Sites, Pesticides And Pot Delivery Dervices

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OREGON: Indoor marijuana growers producing for the recreational market would be capped at 10,000-square-foot facilities and outdoor growers would be limited to 2-acre parcels under one proposal being considered by a state-appointed committee looking at marijuana regulation.

Draft rules for grow sites, pesticide use, retail sales and the production of concentrates and marijuana-infused edibles were discussed Friday by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission‘s rules advisory committee.

Though anyone 21 and older may buy up to a quarter-ounce of cannabis flowers, unlimited seeds and four plants from medical marijuana dispensaries starting Oct. 1, those purchases are part of Oregon’s early sales program, which is overseen by the Oregon Health Authority.

Oregon’s Legal Sale Of Marijuana Comes With Reprieve

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OREGON: About 15 years ago, when she was in her 20s, Erika Walton handed a bong to someone who turned out be a police officer, and was cited for marijuana possession. She paid the fine, she said, but the violation lingered on, haunting her record.

On a recent afternoon, Ms. Walton was at a free legal clinic here in Oregon’s largest city, filling out paperwork to have that infraction forever sealed. Once the process is complete, she will be able to legally say to an employer, landlord or anybody else who asks that she has never been convicted or cited for any drug crime at all.

“It’s taken away a lot of my life,” Ms. Walton said as she inked out her fingerprints, which Oregon requires applicants for sealing to file. The mark on her record was minor — a citation for possession under Oregon law, even back then, was below the level of a misdemeanor, roughly equivalent to riding the light rail without a ticket. But it still cost her, she said, when she had to divulge it on applications for jobs and volunteer positions at her children’s school.

Oregon Marijuana Industry Targets Tourist Market

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OREGON: With its rough-sawn cedar walls, burled maple counters and muted colors, William Simpson’s upscale shop in downtown Dundee could easily be mistaken for a wine tasting room.

Thing is, Simpson’s not selling Oregon pinot. He’s selling pot.

The recent opening of Simpson’s store in Oregon wine country signals the latest evolution in an industry going mainstream. The Portland market is saturated with marijuana dispensaries, prompting a handful of entrepreneurs to set their sights on a different crowd: tourists.

 

Marijuana And Hemp Growers Duke It Out In Oregon Legislature

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OREGON:  Depending on who’s talking, a 20-acre hemp farm about 10 miles south of Grants Pass is either the harbinger of a new industry that could help save rural Oregon – or an existential threat to local marijuana farmers just as they’re anticipating boom times.

Hemp, the non-intoxicating version of cannabis sativa, has long been a big part of the marijuana culture, celebrated for its wide variety of uses and status as a fellow victim of federal prohibition.

But now that both hemp and marijuana are coming out of the legal shadows in Oregon, they’re suddenly in conflict – and state legislators may be about to side with the much more well-established marijuana industry.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would temporarily halt hemp production and force that farm near Grants Pass to yank its plants out of the ground, albeit with compensation from the state. The bill would also put stricter controls on hemp in areas of the state – such as southern Oregon – where marijuana farms are plentiful.