Why is the OLCC throwing the book at me? This is a question we hear a lot these days from our Oregon cannabis clients in reference to the OLCC’s recent more aggressive approach to enforcement. As we’ve explained, the OLCC has tightened the reins on marijuana applications and rule violations. This has made the prospects
Last Thursday, in one of the few (to our knowledge) contested cases heard by the OLCC concerning cannabis, the OLCC accepted unanimously the findings of a state Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and denied an application for a recreational marijuana producer license. You can read the press release here. The decision merits comment as a case
Recently, we wrote about the increasing frequency of litigating cannabis business disputes in the courts, noting several possible causes for this change from the early days when private arbitration was the preferred forum. Meanwhile, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) is beginning to treat violators of the rules governing recreational marijuana much more seriously. One
Last week, I covered the Oregon Secretary of State’s audit report of Oregon marijuana regulation. On January 31, the same day the audit was released, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) submitted its 2019 Recreational Marijuana Supply and Demand Legislative Report (“Report”). The Report’s key finding is nothing new: supply exceeds demand within Oregon’s recreational market.
On January 31, the Oregon Secretary of State released an audit of Oregon marijuana regulation. The audit is a hefty 37 pages, but its core findings are listed right there on the cover sheet: “Oregon’s framework for regulating marijuana should be strengthened to better mitigate diversion risk and improve laboratory testing.” Now: we would all
Once again, Oregon is working on becoming a marijuana maverick. The Beaver State is on the verge of introducing a bill that would allow marijuana exports to other states by 2021. In an attempt to tackle the oversupply crisis that has plagued Oregon the last few years, the Craft Cannabis Alliance, an Oregon-based membership association
It’s 2019 and Oregon employees can still be terminated for off-work marijuana use. That includes not just recreational use, but off-work medical use by registered cardholders in the Oregon Health Authority system– even patients with debilitating medical conditions like cancer or epilepsy. This means that Oregon, which has been on the forefront of decriminalization and
Here we are at the end of 2018, which means it’s time for the third annual “State of the State” post on Oregon cannabis (the 2017 post is here and the 2016 post is here). The year 2018 was truly remarkable in the Oregon industry, and we saw a lot of change, from regulatory evolution
Back in August, I covered the landmark Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug trial approval for psilocybin, the naturally occurring, psychedelic ingredient found in around 200 species of mushrooms. I speculated that if everything goes well, we could see an approved psilocybin drug hit the market sometime in the next 5 to 10 years. I
We always talk about the cannabis industry being dynamic. That’s true from a markets perspective and it’s true from a regulatory point of view. When it comes to regulations in particular, industry observers tend to focus on the big picture developments: e.g., whether marijuana will finally be re- or de-scheduled at the federal level, whether
