This week marks the end of the early start program for medical marijuana dispensaries licensed by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA). As of Sunday, January 1, OHA licensed dispensaries will only be allowed to sell marijuana to adults who hold a valid medical marijuana card. These dispensaries will no longer be allowed to sell marijuana at retail to non-medical cardholders, as most had been doing since October 1, 2015. Going forward, only Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) licensed dispensaries can sell pot at retail to non-medical cardholders. And that is where the money is.
For the past few months, our Oregon cannabis lawyers have prodded, poked and cajoled many of our clients to submit their OLCC paperwork to ensure a timely and successful transition into the adult use market. In our experience, OLCC has prioritized retail applicants, and for anyone without local hang-upsthe transition has been fairly smooth. Still, the OLCC reports that just 104 of 494 retail applicants have been licensedto date. (The numbers for processors are even worse, with just 23 of 208 applicants approved.)
If you are an OLCC licensed retailer, you will be sitting pretty on January 1, assuming you can find product to sell while everyone else scrambles toward licensure. The situation is less than ideal for consumers, who will no longer have access to many outlets, and also less than ideal for the State of Oregon, which could see a hiccup in sales tax revenues. We have written that the rollout of state level cannabis programs is an uneven course, and hard deadlines tend to showcasethat observation.
Note that although the January 1 deadline may seem to decouple Oregons medical and adult use marijuana programs, the reality is more nuanced. OLCC licensed entities are allowed to opt in to medical marijuana activity, and ...
