After finally making a decision when it comes to the potency of marijuana edibles, Oregon will finally be allowing adults 21 and older to purchase edibles and concentrates this summer. Since the early start program began in October of 2015, adults 21+ have been able to purchase up to a quarter ounce of dry cannabis at a time from licensed medical marijuana dispensaries. However, currently edibles and concentrates are restricted to medical marijuana cardholders only.
The reason for this is that the Oregon Health Administration was trying to come to a decision on how potent these products could be for recreational use. Last month, the OHA finally made this decision and since then have been preparing to implement early access to these products as well. Just last week, they announced that these products will be available to all adults 21+ on June 2nd, 2016 – dispensaries are even hiring more workers in preparation for the start of next month.
“It is going to be a crazy, crazy day,” she (Amanda Berry, manager at Sweet Tree Farms) said.
The one thing that people getting ready to go purchase their first edibles and concentrates should know is that there are absolutely limits being set to prevent people from using too much THC. When it comes to these kinds of issues the Oregon Health Administration is trying to be progressive by reducing how much can be sold to a customer in a single edible, as well as in a single visit, in the same way they restrict the amount of cannabis flower that can be sold.
- Only one low-dose (15mg) edible can be sold to an individual at a time
- Topical products, such as lotions and salves, are limited to 6mg THC
- Only one pre-filled cartridge or packaged concentrate up to 1000 mg THC can be sold at a time
Whether or not these limits will still be in place when retail sales turn over to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission on January 1st of next year remains to be seen. At that point in time, medical dispensaries will go back to strictly selling to medical marijuana cardholders. The way they are rolling out this program while still allowing legal access to marijuana products is a unique approach and so far it appears to be working out well for everyone.
Even with the setbacks that left dispensaries temporarily unable to sell concentrates (due to the fact that they had never created a license for concentrate processors) they still have managed to bring access to these products during the early start program. If there was one way to try and compete with the underground market before your regulated market was ready to go, this was likely it.
