Oregon

A cafe serving drinks and chocolate infused with CBD not extracted from cannabis plants has opened in Portland, Oregon, according to local news outlet KATU. The cafe is owned and operated by Grön Chocolate, an existing licensed edibles manufacturer in Oregon. The cafe sources CBD from evergreen tree bark from southeast Asia — not from cannabis or […]

It’s, so far, been a banner year for hemp policy as Alaska, Kansas, Arizona, and Oklahoma each passed industrial hemp legislation during their respective sessions while two other states – New York and South Carolina – expanded their programs; while one state program, Wisconsin, came online. Illinois, too, is just one Senate concurrence vote away […]

U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams has announced five priority areas of enforcing federal law in the state, including what his office sees as threats to public safety and interstate trafficking, the Argus Observer reports. Williams outlined his concerns about the state’s industry in a January op-ed in the Oregonian and those concerns are reflected […]

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has temporarily suspended issuing hemp cultivation certificates to Oregon Department of Agriculture-registered growers until the agency completes the rulemaking process. “The temporary suspension is because HB 4089 requires the OLCC to create and implement new rules for regulating hemp. All applications received prior to today have been processed; if the […]

Josephine County, Oregon is suing the state in federal court seeking to invalidate both the medical and adult-use cannabis laws approved by voters in 1998 and 2014, respectively, the Associated Press reports. The lawsuit argues that the state laws are pre-empted by federal drug laws. “Any person in any state who possesses, distributes, or manufactures […]

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has found a sharp reduction in cannabis sales to minors by dispensaries in the state since implementing increased penalties for violations. In January, regulators found that 40 percent of dispensaries in Portland sold to a minor during a sting by the OLCC, which led the agency to increase the penalties […]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-KY) announced a bill on Monday that would legalize industrial hemp as an agricultural product, according to a report by The Hill.  The bill — dubbed the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 — has bipartisan support, with Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) both listed as co-sponsors for the legislation. […]

Emma Chasen is the Director of Education for Sativa Science Club, an organization that encourages industry-wide quality standards. She also, in 2016, received the Willamette Week‘s Portland, Oregon Best Budtender award. In this Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode, Emma joined our host TG Branfalt for a conversation about the creation process behind her educational courses for individuals seeking […]

The Oregon Legislature has unanimously passed a bill to classify hemp seed as an agricultural product, the Associated Press reports. Under the measure, the state Department of Agriculture must adopt rules for the new regime including identification documents. The program was initially launched in 2015 but was marked with slow progress at the onset. Later […]

The Oregon Secretary of State’s Office has released its audit of the state Liquor Control Commission’s cannabis regulation systems, identifying eight information-technology security issues and making 17 recommendations for addressing the program’s weaknesses. The audit comes on the heels of a summit in the state held by U.S. Attorney Billy Williams with members of the […]

Jesse Peters is the owner and CEO of Eco Firma Farms and is a founding member of the Oregon Cannabis Association. In this Ganjapreneur.com podcast episode, Jesse joins our host TG Branfalt to talk about Eco Firma’s longterm goal of becoming 100% carbon neutral, some green energy solutions that other cannabis companies can consider to follow […]

A temporary change in Oregon’s penalties for selling cannabis products to minors took effect last week, providing higher fines and cannabis worker permit suspensions for employees who knowingly sell cannabis to individuals under 21-years-old. The new rules up the fine from 1,650 to $4,950 and the permit revocation from 10 days to 30. The Oregon […]

According to Cannabis Benchmark’s U.S. Spot Index, the price-per-pound of cannabis has fallen 3.5 percent from Jan. 12 to Jan. 19, to $1,292, representing a spot price-per-gram of $2.85, with a simple average price of $3.20. The report indicates that the drop “was driven primarily by significant week-over-week decline in wholesale rates in Oregon, though […]

Attorney generals from 17 states, Washington, D.C., and Guam have sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to “advance legislation that would allow states that have legalized medical or recreational use of marijuana to bring that commerce into the banking system” following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ move to rescind the Cole Memo protections. […]

In an op-ed in the Oregonian, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Billy J. Williams said that while “national policy has changed” – referring to the rescinding of the Cole Memo protections by Attorney General Jeff Sessions – federal attorneys’ “commitment to exercising good judgment in charging decisions has not.” “We will continue to […]

OG Analytical, a cannabis testing laboratory in Eugene, Oregon has seen a “100 percent decline” in business according to its lab director, who called the brand “dead” after Eugene Antifa offered evidence that the owner participated in neo-Nazi activities, according to a report from The Oregonian/Oregon Live. Bethany Sherman, CEO of OG, indicated she plans […]

Kaya Holdings, operators of Oregon cannabis retailers Kaya Shack, is planning to launch an opioid-for-medical cannabis swap program – if they can get approval from state compliance officials and local law enforcement. The Kaya Cares program would see people interested in trying medical cannabis exchange their prescription opioids for cannabis products at no charge. David […]

If Oregon’s licensed cannabis cultivators want to submit their products to competitions, such as the famed Cannabis Cup, the product must be purchased from a licensed retailer, according to a bulletin released Monday by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which oversees legal sales in the state. The agency further clarifies that licensees cannot use the […]

Oregon public schools will reap 40 percent of the state’s cannabis-derived tax revenues collected from January 2016 to August 2017, or about $34 million, KATU News reports. In all, the state has collected $108.6 million in cannabis industry taxes since 2016. The School State Fund will receive the lion’s share of the revenues while the […]

Alex Hoggan is the founder of ChemHistory, a cannabis testing lab based outside of Portland, Oregon. In this episode of the Ganjaprenuer.com podcast, Alex joins our host TG Branfalt to discuss the early days of Oregon’s cannabis testing landscape, the intricacies of pesticide testing under Oregon’s  strict testing rules, the regulatory switch last October that […]

Stephen Gold and Andy Yashar are co-founders of The Daily Leaf, a technology company that has partnered with dispensaries to find and list the best cannabis deals throughout Oregon cities — with plans to expand to Seattle, Las Vegas, and beyond. In this episode of the Ganjapreneur.com podcast, Stephen and Andy join host TG Branfalt […]

Last week, two studies on highway safety after cannabis legalization purported different findings and both drew headlines – one claimed accident rates were 3 percent higher in legal states than they would have been without legalization, while another found no increase, the Washington Post reports. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study analyzed insurance claims […]

The Oregon Office of Economic Analysis has released its forecast for the state’s recreational cannabis revenue, projecting $156 million in cannabis industry taxes over the next two years, according to a Willamette Week report. State economist Josh Lehner’s report indicates that Oregon’s first-year sales closely track Colorado’s first year but “outpaces Washington’s.” Lehner suggests that […]

The number of registered patients in Oregon has declined significantly since voters in the state legalized cannabis use for adults in 2014, falling from 77,000 to 67,000, according to NPR-affiliate KUOW. Many patients registered as medical users are declining to renew their medical cards – which costs $200 – opting instead to purchase their medicine […]