The recreational cannabis market in Oregon is preparing for fall when sales are expected to begin – as of right now recreational users must purchase through medical dispensaries. By the end of the year however, there will be a fully functioning industry from growers to retailers.
Since they started taking applications the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has already received 600 applications for recreational marijuana licenses. The licenses are categorized as growers, labs, retailers and wholesalers – and by far the number of those applying for a license to grow out numbers the rest.
Of the 600 who have already applied for a license, nearly 400 of them were attempting to get a license to grow recreational marijuana. 10% of those applications are ready to be reviewed currently – and they are expecting to award the first licenses by the end of this month.
As for the rest of the applications, 4 of them are labs who would be testing for pesticides and potency. Next to the growers, labs will be the next priority and applications for those two categories will be processed first so they will be ready for retailers to open doors this fall.
All the other applications are for wholesalers and retailers who will likely be licensed over the summer. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is expecting to see around 1200 applications by the time they are done this year – and they are expecting to approve around 830 licenses for the year.
More applications are likely to be flooding in after this past week, as Governor Kate brown has signed two more marijuana related bills into law. The first of those bills drops a lot of paperwork that was previously required for grower applications, aiming to give smaller companies a better chance at a license.
The second provision is actually an addition that will help out those choosing to grow medical marijuana at home, making it official that they are not subject to inspection by the Oregon Health Authority.
Other upcoming bills will potentially remove a 2 year residency requirement for recreational marijuana producers, processors and retailers – and another will allow early sales of marijuana edibles to the recreational customers. They may also be passing a bill that would allow banking access to cannabis businesses.
All in all, it seems things are moving forward quite nicely for Oregon. They’ve been progressing on each bill and so far there hasn’t been any real hold ups. If it all keeps going well they will have a smooth running industry in no time.
