Oregon Opens Recreational Marijuana Shops

[Katelyn Baker]

Oregon opened recreational marijuana shops on Saturday, joining the likes of Alaska, Washington, and Colorado:

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission announced on Friday it has approved licenses for 26 retailers around the state, meeting a key deadline almost two years after voters passed a ballot measure legalizing pot.

"It's a pretty exciting day for the OLCC," Steven Marks, the executive director of the commission charged with regulating recreational marijuana, said in a conference call with journalists. He said 12 recreational retailers can start operating as soon as Saturday.​

The state has allowed medical marijuana since October 2015. But with these shops opening, those stores cannot sell marijuana for recreational purposes after December 31.

Right now, Oregon has 26 stores licensed to sell the drug, but they still need to tie up some loose ends. The retailers complained to the state "of a backlog in getting approvals for labels and packages and said there were only a few laboratories capable of testing to the new, more stringent standards." Marks said they are catching up:

To remain on shelves, products produced before Oct. 1 must clearly state they were tested under the old regime and must leave stores in childproof packaging.

By allowing retailers to sell products produced before the Oct. 1 rules changes, the state will provide a smooth transition for retailers to sell existing product and for those medical dispensaries that want to transition into a recreational license, said Nathan Rix, a senior policy analyst at the commission. To date, the OLCC has approved a total of 326 licenses in the following categories: producers, processors, wholesalers, retailers and labs.​

News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Oregon Opens Recreational Marijuana Shops
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[Dugan]

This article was either poorly edited or the author is uninformed. The line

"The state has allowed medical marijuana since October 2015."

Should read that the state has allowed medical marijuana dispensaries to sell recreational marijuana since October 2015. Big difference.

 

[Pegleg]

The olcc is hurting all the small cottage farms in small country towns. Dispenseries are no longet allowed to buy our marijuana unless we get a state license costing more than most can afford. Then the state wants to dictate the envirorment we are to grow our marijuana in from my understanding. It's sad that so many people are left holding pounds of marijuana with no place to sellit. We're talking about senior citizens, handicapped,and disabled people. The state has crushed small growers. This was our bread and butter. Many people have depends on their marijuana sales to put food on the table literally. It's not like we were getting rich.
It's unfortunate that the olcc has squashed the small farmers without even trying to work with us.
I ,for one, have tried and tried to follow the states new laws every few months. I think all the small farmers deserve a chance to sell to dispenseries.

 

[Dwight Monk]

The olcc is hurting all the small cottage farms in small country towns. Dispenseries are no longet allowed to buy our marijuana unless we get a state license costing more than most can afford. Then the state wants to dictate the envirorment we are to grow our marijuana in from my understanding. It's sad that so many people are left holding pounds of marijuana with no place to sellit. We're talking about senior citizens, handicapped,and disabled people. The state has crushed small growers. This was our bread and butter. Many people have depends on their marijuana sales to put food on the table literally. It's not like we were getting rich.
It's unfortunate that the olcc has squashed the small farmers without even trying to work with us.
I ,for one, have tried and tried to follow the states new laws every few months. I think all the small farmers deserve a chance to sell to dispenseries.

Was about only way they could finally get the ballot measure to pass (by allowing them to tax Recreational and letting the OLCC make it complicated), as at least we can legally have it on us and in our homes w/o having a Medical Card, but it came at a cost for sure. I would imagine the Dispensaries are paying less for it as they have all their fees/taxes on income/etc (but just a guess as I don't know any of the numbers, as don't have 50k laying around to try and start a business, and with all the rules I imagine it take minimum of that to get rolling)... that would require them to raise prices or pay less for it to make a profit, and stuff on the street getting to be a larger percentage cheaper than the pre-tax prices at the Dispensaries. It will eventually come down to Supply and Demand, and if too many folks growing legally but can't sell it legally outside of Oregon there could very well be a major surplus at some point (flowers they can't sell right away as too much on the market at the current time).