Long wait for Oregon rec cannabis permits

New recreational cannabis applicants in Oregon have to wait at least a year for a licenses.

Oregon preps for license caps

It’s probably going to get a lot harder in the years ahead for newbies to break into Oregon’s marijuana industry.

That assessment comes after Oregon’s top cannabis regulator disclosed that the state probably won’t issue any new recreational marijuana licenses for at least a year.

According to Portland cannabis consultant Sam Chapman, the state Legislature, regulators and cannabis industry executives will “absolutely” push to restrict market access in 2019. Oregon lawmakers return to work in February.The announcement comes amid concerns that surplus MJ products are flowing into the black market.

The restrictions could take a number of forms, according to Chapman:

• A cap on the total number of licenses issued.
• A halt in the issuance of new licenses.
• Tougher enforcement measures to ensure that people who don’t follow the rules risk losing their licenses.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission already has been cracking down on businesses that skirt the rules.

Chapman, for his part, doubts a license cap ultimately will have the intended effect of alleviating the current glut of MJ products.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “Any kind of license capping or restriction on cultivation production will absolutely end up doing the opposite of what the public intent is.

“We’ve learned after almost 80 years of prohibition that it doesn’t work.”

By Bart Schaneman

Read more from the source: MJBizDaily.com