The Oregon Weed Thread -Grows, News and Laws and Whatever

[Phenome]

Just bought my tickets for the Cultivation Classic. Seems like it will be an interesting event. I'm looking forward to see what the quality of the flowers is like. If anyone else is going to be there, just shoot me a PM and lets see if we can link up. They stated they'll be measuring the carbon footprint of the flowers as well. Hopefully lots of good information about producing somewhat sustainable quality cannabis.

I'll be bringing some seeds with me, and some sour beers from down here.

Frenchy cannoli should be there.
You ever heard of de Garde?
I'm not a sour beer dude but my friends treat this stuff like currency.. Not even kidding

 

[Phenome]

Lol never mind sorry didn't read the last page.. Duh.
So you know what I'm saying

 

[Abja Roots]

Frenchy cannoli should be there.
You ever heard of de Garde?
I'm not a sour beer dude but my friends treat this stuff like currency.. Not even kidding

I've heard of Frenchy. I've actually had the chance to meet him at a few events around the bay. I did see that Calyx had organized 2 days of workshops with him the weekend before.

De Garde does make great beers. One of the reasons people are so hyped on them is not just the quality but that their prices are much less than what we typically see down here on sours. So lots of people buy them to trade them to people in other areas. They're Hop Bu is amazing. I'm hoping they make another batch this year.

 

[Abja Roots]

This article was from two years ago, but I just found it and thought it was a pretty good read.

http://www.wweek.com/2014/02/05/the-secret-of-yummy-garden/

Sunny Chan has a lot of history at Yummy Garden, the Brooklyn neighborhood restaurant he used to own, and at another restaurant he owned, Chinese Garden in Gresham.

Today, there's change afoot at both joints. Yummy Garden, known for its kelly-green exterior and lemon-yellow floor tiles more than its cuisine (one regular says he took to ordering a burger or grilled cheese because the Chinese food was so bad) closed Jan. 29. Chan's Chinese Garden, which features a menu heavy on chop suey and chow mein, green vinyl booths and a flashy electronic Keno board over the cash register, remains open, although Chan abruptly assigned ownership to his wife in June.

And Chan is nowhere to be found. "He's in China," says a Chinese Garden manager who declined to give her name. "We don't know when he'll be back."
Probably never. Chan is the alleged leader of a Chinese drug gang. Last week, Chan's top lieutenant, Shu Guang "Big Rock" Wu, was in federal court and is expected to plead guilty Feb. 20 to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. He faces 26 years in prison. Big Rock's would be the highest-ranking conviction in a three-year investigation into a large, sophisticated Chinese marijuana-growing operation that had its unofficial headquarters in Chinese restaurants, but extended into ordinary-looking houses scattered across Southeast Portland.

Nailing the leader of this operation will be difficult, unless Chan, 59, tires of China. He's got little reason to return to Portland. Federal prosecutors who indicted him last year are demanding he cough up nearly $4 million in cash and a couple of houses and spend the next few decades as the government's guest. Prosecutors say Chan had ties to at least three restaurants—Mandarin Palace in Beaverton was the third—as well as elaborate money-laundering and property transactions.

The case offers a rare glimpse inside Asian organized crime in Portland. Someone who's had more than a peek at this underworld is Jeff Zoria, a mortgage broker whose office at Wing Ming Square, at 2788 SE 82nd Ave., is in the heart of Portland's new Chinatown. Zoria, 51, whose daughters and business partner are Chinese, complained for years about illegal gambling parlors in his building. But Zoria, who says he suffers from severe asthma, thought the Chinese gamblers, who included Sunny Chan, were guilty of nothing more than clicking mahjong tiles and violating indoor smoking laws. "Why would all these Chinese guys, who speak little or no English, get into growing pot in Oregon?" Zoria asks. "They're serious and they work like oxen. There's just no mixture between the Chinese community and weed. I'm baffled by it."

The answer, of course, is money. Like other industrial products, such as textiles, automobiles or computers, marijuana production moves from place to place and group to group. Even as legalization in Oregon looms, growers are enjoying outsized profits by shipping their product east. "Legalization is following a very different path from the repeal of Prohibition," says Alison Holcomb, drug policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state. She was a leader of that state's successful 2012 marijuana legalization campaign. "Prohibition's end had an immediate impact because it happened at the same time nationwide," Holcomb says. "[Marijuana] legalization is piecemeal, so won't have the same impact on the black market."

Outdoor growing operations are still responsible for most of the 150,000 or so plants law enforcement seizes annually in Oregon—but Chinese indoor growing operations are the latest trend. Chan's operation, for example, was equivalent to 20 percent of all the indoor grows seized in Oregon last year, according to federal statistics. "It's all about a business opportunity," says John Deits, a recently retired federal drug prosecutor who oversaw part of the Chan case. While Mexican cartels have dominated Oregon pot production, there's clearly a new entrant to the market. "The Chinese growers are a real recent phenomenon," Deits says, "and they are very well-organized." If what the feds say about Sunny Chan is true, his underlings were correct to nickname him "Big Brother." Federal warrants say he ran a large and complex "marijuana-manufacturing and money-laundering conspiracy." Law enforcement agents believe Chan is the boss of a ring that involved at least five marijuana grow houses in outer Southeast Portland and at least one in Southwest Washington. These were not houses with just a few plants in the basement. Agents busted the houses in 2011 and 2013, seizing more than 3,000 marijuana plants with a street value of as much as $3 million. Those cases were in addition to at least four other busts of Chinese growers in Portland and in Washington and Yamhill counties since late 2010. Deits,66, who was Oregon's top federal drug prosecutor for 11 years before retiring in November, says the Chinese are the latest group to make a grab for Oregon's marijuana market. Deits began his career as a drug prosecutor in 1974. "The marijuana market has changed dramatically since then," he says. In those days, Deits recalls, marijuana growers were Caucasian. "Way back in the late '70s, I don't remember a lot of ethnic groups being involved," Deits says. "It was hippies." Over time, however, the source of production moved north.
"In the '90s, you had 'B.C. bud' coming out of Canada," Deits says. "Nobody was growing much here, and because the Canadian border was insecure, you had huge quantities of super-high stuff available." The terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, led to tighter security and a sharp reduction in the supply of Canadian marijuana. "The Canadian drug groups—a lot of them were Vietnamese—moved down to Seattle, Portland and Sacramento," Deits says. Mexican cartels also moved in after 9/11, setting up expansive growing operations on remote federal lands. In the mid-2000s, Deits says, law enforcement agencies started targeting such Mexican operations. They remain Oregon's biggest growers, but the focus on them created opportunities for new growers.
Chinese entrepreneurs saw an opportunity in plentiful cheap houses, high unemployment and profit margins unimaginable in the restaurant business. They jumped in. Unlike the Mexican cartels, which work outdoors in rural areas, Chinese pot growers work indoors in urban centers, where their plants produce a higher-quality product because of the climate-controlled conditions. "Indoor grows produce higher THC," says Deits, referring to the main mind-altering ingredient found in marijuana. Sunny Chan's indoor operations were almost invisible. And because most of the product got shipped out of state—experts say Oregon is a large exporter of marijuana—there was little risk of street dealers implicating Chan's crew. Because Chan's case is still pending in federal court, some of the details of the investigation that led to his indictment are not public. (Lawyers for five others indicted with Chan declined to comment.)
But a 2011 bust of two of Chan's associates and search warrants served last year reveal how his gang allegedly operated. Anybody who's watched The Wire or crime movies knows how cops often attack drug rings—they grab low-level dealers and roll up the chain of command. Busting grow houses doesn't work that way. Instead of info from street dealers, the best intelligence usually comes from one of the most law-abiding organizations in town, Portland General Electric. "A lot of times utilities provide a tip," Deits says. "PGE investigators will call the police and say, 'We see a diversion.'" When cops raided one of Chan's grow houses on Southeast 118th Drive in August 2011, they said the house had been using thousands of dollars of electricity each month—for free. Stealing electricity is a risky proposition. Trying to tap into the high-voltage lines on residential streets carries the risk of electrocution or fire. Ryan Lufkin, a Multnomah County deputy district attorney who prosecuted those arrested at Chan's house on Southeast 118th Drive, says investigators believe there is a rogue electrician who serves grow houses, using his training to connect grow houses to the high-voltage wires.

Indoor grows require lots of electricity. Chinese growers tear out interior walls, clear all furniture and turn homes into giant greenhouses. They then hook up electricity for continuous lighting, irrigation and drying of marijuana. By tapping electricity before it goes through the household meter, the growers can hide their usage from PGE. The utility's investigators monitor homes and businesses for unusual consumption, and indoor growers want to avoid that scrutiny. Thieves steal nearly $1 million in electricity annually from PGE, says company spokesman Steve Corson. Corson does not know how much of that is stolen by marijuana farmers, but he says the amount is substantial. "We've seen a definite trend in terms of growing operations moving indoors," Corson says. "A large grow operation can steal between $1,000 and $2,500 a month." Stealing power was in some ways the riskiest part of Chan's operation. WW interviewed neighbors near grow houses on Southeast 115th and 84th avenues. Fearing retaliation, they spoke on background but said neither house raised much suspicion. A 2,640-square-foot grow house with a large garage on Southeast 115th Avenue in the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood is tucked away on a flag-shaped lot and surrounded by a high fence. Ironically, in front of the home is an Oxford House, for those in recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction. After a Chan underling bought the house in foreclosure in 2010, a Chinese man moved in. Neighbors say a van stopped by periodically, and people walking in the park behind the house detected the smell of marijuana. But other than the fact that the lights never went off, it was difficult to tell if anyone lived there. Chan's grow house on Southeast 84th Avenue in Lents has less privacy and is smaller—cops seized only 486 plants there, one-third of the total seized at the Southeast 115th Avenue house. A neighbor says an Asian woman appeared to live there by herself, only venturing outside for an occasional cigarette. The woman also received regular visits from a van driver. Neighbors near two of Chan's grow houses say the first time they were aware something extraordinary was happening was when several PGE trucks showed up to work on the power lines. "I came home one day and couldn't get through the street because there were so many PGE trucks," says an 84th Avenue neighbor. Chan's gang operated as a tightly controlled cell. Records show Chan's wife, son and nephew were involved, along with other accomplices who were closely connected. (Chan's son, Evan, declined to comment. Chan's wife could not be reached.) The Portland Police Bureau and local federal law enforcement agencies employ few Chinese-speaking investigators. And like other immigrant groups, prosecutors say, members of Portland's Chinese community are reluctant to speak to police. Chan's group used prepaid cellphones that don't require identification for activation, court records show. That makes wiretapping difficult. Despite the language and cultural barriers to investigating Chinese growers, prosecutors say there is one officer with extraordinary expertise in Chinese grow operations.

"The cop who did a ton of these investigations is Scott McCollister," Lufkin says. "He knows everything there is to know about them." Today, prosecutors admire McCollister for his skillful investigations. A decade ago he was infamous for fatally shooting Kendra James, an unarmed black woman. To take down Chan's operation, McCollister, who declined to be interviewed for this story, and his colleagues pulled together bank records, decoded convoluted property transactions and figured out where all the marijuana and money was going. "These cases are very complex," Lufkin says. "Everybody has a specific role, and it's very organized." All Sunny Chan needed to become a big-league marijuana grower was people and property. It appears his enterprise began during the 2008 recession, when unemployment was high and home prices were low. The crew he assembled often met after hours, records show, at Chan's restaurant, Chinese Garden. Chan even told one associate, his nephew Yau Yee "Fat Boy" Ma, to sponsor the immigration of a man named Chan Wen Chao to work at Yau's restaurant, Yummy Garden. (It is unclear when Chan came to the United States. Court records show he married his wife in Portland in 1983.) Wen Chao's real function, according to a federal search warrant, was to serve as a straw buyer for one of Chan's grow houses. Investigators found that Wen Chao presented falsified bank statements to a title company to prove he could afford a house, when in fact the real buyers were Chan and his wife. The purpose of the deception: "To conceal Sunny's involvement in the illegal [marijuana] manufacturing activity taking place at the residence," the search warrant alleges. The real-estate transactions provided Chan an opportunity to launder some of
the cash his operation was allegedly generating. He bought at least three houses, paying more than $500,000 in cash. Chan's marijuana business made a lot of money. A woman arrested for her role in tending plants told police she got paid 10 percent of the proceeds from the Lents house each month. Her monthly payments were $6,000 to $7,000 during 2012, which suggests that grow house—Chan's smallest—was netting $60,000 to $70,000 a month. None of the legal titles to Chan's grow houses was in his name, at least initially. But when the cops started moving in, he flipped at least one back into his name to protect his business. Chan bought the Lents house in 2009. Less than a month later, he sold it to an associate named Jian Pan Su. In March 2011, police stopped Jian after he left a suspected marijuana grow house in Ridgefield, Wash. That same day, Jian gave the Portland house back to Chan for free, which a search warrant describes as "an attempt by Jian to avoid discovery of the marijuana-growing operation inside the 84th Avenue residence." Bank records showed that Chan controlled accounts in other states, such as Georgia, where money would be deposited and transferred back to Portland. In the 2011 bust, investigators found stacks of boxes for mailing marijuana elsewhere. "The joke in law enforcement is that the U.S. Postal Service is the biggest drug dealer in the country," Deits says. For all the sophistication of Chan's operation, his crew made some silly mistakes.

Although Chan went to great lengths to disguise his property transactions, Multnomah County property records show that his wife, Suzi, paid the 2012 property taxes for three homes held in other people's names. Suzi Chan also figured in one of the unintentionally comedic events of the downfall of her husband's gang. After the 2011 bust, she went downtown to bail out one of the growers, a man named De Bin Zhen, who had been arrested for growing marijuana. "Suzi provided $10,000 cash in an attempt to bail out De Bin," according to court documents. "The money was seized following an alert from a narcotics-detection canine, which [was] alerted to the presence of a narcotic odor on the money." De Bin did not fare any better in the judicial system. Lufkin, the state prosecutor, says Chinese growers usually plead guilty because such cases typically include overwhelming evidence of guilt and carry light sentences. At the house where De Bin was arrested, officers seized 1,053 marijuana plants and 490 marijuana clones, which are fast-growing cuttings from mother plants. "The guy's defense was, he did not know what marijuana was," says Lufkin, who prosecuted De Bin. "That did not go over very well in court." The 2011 arrest and subsequent conviction of De Bin and another grower were just the first step in officials' pursuit of Chan. To make a federal case against Chan, investigators pored over financial and property records to establish the interstate distribution and money-laundering aspects of the case. After seizing evidence from Chan's grow houses, investigators had one final search warrant to serve. They wanted the records kept by the real-estate agent who'd worked for Chan in at least three transactions. That agent is a woman named Xiao Tang, and her realty firm shares space on
Southeast 82nd Avenue with Bamboo Mortgage, Jeff Zoria's company. (There's no indication either of them was involved Chan's drug ring.) Ironically, Zoria was desperate for the authorities to bust the Chinese gambling operation in his building. "The gamblers are chain smokers and they were destroying my health," Zoria says. Throughout the first half of 2013, Zoria sent emails and letters to the Portland Police Bureau's drugs and vice division, Portland Fire & Rescue, Multnomah County's smoking-prevention program and even the city agency that licenses social-gambling operations. During the spring and summer, a drugs and vice cop stopped by, as did a fire inspector and the city's gambling-license regulator. A county code inspector even visited six times. But nothing changed. Then, on Oct. 10, police and federal agents raided Zoria's office, seizing Xiao Tang's computer and records related to Sunny Chan. Zoria says he sat in his office dumbfounded when officers served their search warrant. "I've been complaining to the police about the gambling for a long time," he says. "Then they came in like storm troopers for something else." Today, Zoria says his lungs are clear. Instead of tobacco smoke, the sugary smell of charred meat from New Wing Wa BBQ King, on the floor below, wafts through his office. In January, the Chinese gambling club in his building closed. Some of the gamblers have been arrested. Chan is gone, holing up in China. His associates are pleading guilty one by one. His wife filed for divorce in December—perhaps in an attempt to preserve assets, because she's said to be with Chan in China.
Although Oregon is hurtling toward marijuana legalization, prosecutors say there will be plenty of people eager to take Chan's place.

Even if Oregon legalizes marijuana later this year, many states are far from such a decision, which means demand for Oregon weed will remain strong.
In Colorado, where legalization went into effect last month, prices have gone up, not down. Holcomb, the Washington ACLU drug policy director and a former criminal defense lawyer, says demand will keep the Sunny Chans of the world busy. And "whack-a-mole" justice will continue. "We think the legal price will track the black-market price," Holcomb says. "There's still plenty of money to be made."

 

[Robrites]

Out-of-state companies eye Oregon marijuana market for expansion

Out-of-state companies eye Oregon marijuana market for expansion

Blue and purple dots splatter the crisp white walls at Sweet Leaf, a marijuana shop in Southeast Portland. In a nifty trick, the pattern looks like wildlife when viewed through an iPhone camera.

Shelves in the back room are crowded with yogurt-covered pretzels, bananas and other snacks, part of the company's pledge to keep its budtenders and managers plied with free food while at work.

With its bright lights and cheerful vibe, the place looks and feels like Sweet Leaf's other stores, except for one thing. All of the others are in Colorado.

Sweet Leaf is among a handful of Colorado marijuana companies that have set up in Oregon in recent months, positioning themselves to capture the recreational cannabis market when it officially launches later this year.

Among them: a drink and candy maker and a company specializing in marijuana-infused skin patches.

But the transition has proven a bit rough for some. Portland alone has more than 160 stores selling medical or recreational marijuana. One well-known California marijuana retailer, Harborside Health Center, opened an Oregon store last fall only to pull out this month, saying foot traffic through its Portland shop paled compared to its booming California locations. The company said it decided to focus instead on the burgeoning California market.

The industry also continues to encounter evolving regulations. A recent shift in Oregon's policy on marijuana extract production prompted two of the Colorado companies, Mary's Medicinals and Dixie Brands, to temporarily halt production.

"You have got to be flexible," said Joe Hodas, a spokesman for Dixie, a Denver-based producer of pot-infused drinks, candies and topical products. "You have to understand that there will be constant changes. Being nimble is critical."

Ultimately, for established marijuana companies in Colorado, the first state in the country to launch recreational pot sales, Oregon offers not only new customers but the chance to export their brands.

That trend, said legal and industry experts, is likely to gain speed since the Oregon Legislature this year lifted a 2-year residency requirement for people seeking marijuana business licenses.

"That's a slam dunk, absolutely a slam dunk," said Hilary Bricken, a Seattle attorney whose practice focuses on marijuana businesses. "When (residency) is not an impediment, you are going to see the market flooded by these entrepreneurs. It's so much easier."

More http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2016/04/colorado_marijuana_entrepreneu.html#incart_river_home

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

I don't see any shortages thus far

Stock up while you still can.
When I was living in the south during the 1980s there was always a dry spell in May/June

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Not sure if anyone has posted about the Oregon cannabis industry monthly meet up in this thread yet, but its pretty fun. We were meeting 3nd Tuesday of every month at the World Famous Cannabis Cafe, but it is temporarily shuttered so this month is at a different location
details at: http://www.meetup.com/Oregon-Cannabis-Industry-Meetup/

Here is a photo of a previous event

 

[MedicalGrower]

Stock up while you still can.
When I was living in the south during the 1980s there was always a dry spell in May/June

Sittin pretty but wondering when the shortages are going to happen. Sure seems like a glut of product available

 

[Robrites]

Oregon to marijuana dispensaries: No 4/20 raffles, giveaways

Oregon to marijuana dispensaries: No 4/20 raffles, giveaways

The Oregon Health Authority on Monday reminded medical marijuana dispensary operators that they can't sponsor raffles or contests that include free pot as a prize.

The bulletin was issued during the week of 4/20, the unofficial holiday of sorts for the marijuana set.

"Marijuana may not be given as a prize, premium or consideration for a lottery, contest, game of chance, game of skill or competition of any kind," according to the memo from André Ourso, manager of the state's medical marijuana program.

Ourso also reminded dispensaries that on-site marijuana consumption isn't allowed unless it's by an employee.

The state allows employees of dispensaries who are medical marijuana patients to consume cannnabis at work as long as the person is alone and behind closed doors. However, due to the Oregon Indoor Clean Act, consumption cannot include "smoking, combusting, inhaling, vaporizing or aerosolizing."

 

[Robrites]

Okay Oregon Weed

Okay Oregon Weed

What is your favorite weed from last years grow?

What is going to be your Main Strain this year?

 

[CamoCannabis]

Okay, life has changed a little and plans have been adjusted. I can't get the commercial license as we are currently zoned Rural Residential. Although part of the property isn't regulated by The county since its in a 500 year flood plain, but that's another story.

So, I have my medical card, two wired grow rooms running (with another one empty at the moment) and sixof the most beautiful, sun covered acres I have ever seen. Currently, we have a total of 10 plants planned for outdoor, plus any patient plants we pick up. Hopefully, the wife will get her card and we can add hers to the number.

So, here are my questions:
1) How would I go about finding an honest and hard working person to help with the work and to cover while we are on vacation.
2) Am I wrong in assuming that we can sell "excess" to medical dispensaries and processors?

I'm in the Fall Creek area outside Eugene.

Appreciate any advice

 

[MedicalGrower]

Okay, life has changed a little and plans have been adjusted. I can't get the commercial license as we are currently zoned Rural Residential. Although part of the property isn't regulated by The county since its in a 500 year flood plain, but that's another story.

So, I have my medical card, two wired grow rooms running (with another one empty at the moment) and sixof the most beautiful, sun covered acres I have ever seen. Currently, we have a total of 10 plants planned for outdoor, plus any patient plants we pick up. Hopefully, the wife will get her card and we can add hers to the number.

So, here are my questions:
1) How would I go about finding an honest and hard working person to help with the work and to cover while we are on vacation.
2) Am I wrong in assuming that we can sell "excess" to medical dispensaries and processors?

I'm in the Fall Creek area outside Eugene.

Appreciate any advice

Selling excess will be subject to the new reporting laws that go into effect in June you will need to begin sending in monthly reports to the state

 

[oneofus]

Selling excess will be subject to the new reporting laws that go into effect in June you will need to begin sending in monthly reports to the state

MG is correct.

camo,

I've been looking into this myself and what I've found is this:

addressing your second question first, I believe all the relevant info to your question(s) can be found here:

https://public.health.oregon.gov/Di...ease/MedicalMarijuanaProgram/Pages/index.aspx

the short answer being, I believe, is that, yes, you can sell your excess meds to a dispensary. As long as you are the designated grower for your patient(s) and they have given you written permission to do so by assigning a portion of their plants to you to do so with. You should find the form for all that on the sidebar on that page under Forms. Click the link that says Forms then click the PDF link that says Patient Forms and look down the page where it says Grow site registration fee. It's right there on the 4th line.

the answer to your first question is the same as anywhere else and for anything else in life. You just interview people and/or ask people if they know anyone trustworthy/make friends and ask them. Last thing you want to do is to go looking on craigslist...lol

btw, from what I read on the patient application form you are not required to be a patient yourself to grow for others. Or at least that is how I interpret the form's meaning where it says who does the patient wish to designate as their grower...there is a line for them to put your name in and it says in parenthesis "(patient or other)"...to me that means one is not "required" to also be a patient to grow for a patient. I could be wrong so you might want to call the agency and ask them directly. I'm sure they'd be glad to answer that part for you. After all, it is legal now...

Good luck and HTH

 

[redlaser]

So, here are my questions:
1) How would I go about finding an honest and hard working person to help with the work and to cover while we are on vacation.

If I was going to take a vacation and needed plants watered, blumats or water timers would be a good place to start. I think you are asking for trouble to put it mildly by letting an outsider into any grow op. You are only as strong as your weakest link security wise. Ideally plants would be smaller or just transplanted before leaving town, less of a need for water.

 

[CamoCannabis]

If I was going to take a vacation and needed plants watered, blumats or water timers would be a good place to start. I think you are asking for trouble to put it mildly by letting an outsider into any grow op. You are only as strong as your weakest link security wise. Ideally plants would be smaller or just transplanted before leaving town, less of a need for water.

My wife and I were just discussing that over a bowl of Mr. Funk We have a close family friend that we are going to approach first. Scary chit when you think of some tool box coming in and destroying a garden

 

[Robrites]

Oregon has collected $6.84 million in recreational marijuana taxes since January

Oregon has collected $6.84 million in recreational marijuana taxes since January

Oregon dispensaries have something to celebrate on this stoner holiday: They’ve sold an estimated $27 million worth of recreational marijuana since the start of the year.

The Oregon Department of Revenue on Wednesday said it collected $6.84 million in taxes from sales of recreational pot in January and February. The figure doesn’t include medical marijuana sales, which remain untaxed.

The state says about 320 medical marijuana dispensaries were selling recreational pot in Feburary.

The state announced last month that it had collected $3.48 million in taxes from the first month of sales. Since then, it has collected another $3.38 million.

Tax collections so far have blown out economists’ predictions for the first year of taxed pot sales. Those estimates ranged from $2 million to $3 million after the state paid for the costs of regulation.
http://www.oregonweed.xyz/oregon-has-collected-6-84-million-in-recreational-marijuana-taxes-since-january/

 

[Robrites]

Tracking chips will follow Oregon marijuana products

Tracking chips will follow Oregon marijuana products

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Tracking pot from seed to sale.

The state of Oregon is starting to train marijuana growers, processors and store on new technology to make sure marijuana stays legally in our borders. This uses the same kind of chip that pets get from the humane society.

It's the software that will put Oregon's pot market on the same level as any corporation-organized inventory, tracked delivery and point of sale records.

It's from a company called Metrc. Colorado uses it as well. Washington uses something similar.

A blue barcode starts in the soil. Inside the tag is a chip with a serial number that is read by an RFID scanner.

As the plant grows, the same numbered tag moves to a branch, then a sticker for pot products that head to stores where customers will buy it. The state keeps track of every move.

"One, it keeps everything that's grown and produced in the regulated market, in the market so we can see if there are any diversions to the illegal market, it also prevents illegal product from entering the legal market," said Mark Pettinger, spokesperson for the OLCC Recreational Marijuana Division.

That's important because every legal weed product is lab tested at least once for pesticides, mold and THC levels. It can't be sold if it's not clean.

The state paid $1.6 million for the software, but each grower and marijuana store will use it for free.

Casey Rivero is a grower in Hillsboro. He says the tracking system legitimizes the cannabis industry and gives piece of mind.

"Having that accountability from the beginning, I feel is really important," Rivero said.

If Oregon pot ends up illegally across state lines before it's sold to the public, the state can track down who had possession of it last, and their license might go up for review. It'll be helpful on the road too.

"If someone takes it out of the system for transport, from A to B, it shows it's in transit. They can show that document to a law enforcer and it'll have our mark on it, and it will show that it's legal and verifiable," said Rivero.
www.kgw.com

 

[Sluicebox]

Sorry for the stupid question but what's to keep someone from pulling the tag and going elsewhere with it? I always thought this was just another money grab for a well connected campaign donor. I guess it would somehow keep the real criminals (in the eyes of the state) honest. Sick of MFr's looking down their noses at the folks who have been carrying the water for years. Now if you pay to play your an upstanding citizen. While the old growers are still treated like trash.

 

[oneofus]

Rob,

Your post about the tracking system reminded me of some reading I did in the OLCC regs. I don't remember if you covered this in this thread but have you seen in the OLCC regs that after Dec. 31 2016 that no licencees will be allowed to get their starters/seeds from anyone but another licensee? I know crossing state lines in and of itself alone is a federal offense, but it seems to me that between that reg and the one you mention about the tags that Oregon has just built a genetic "wall" around its borders. Am I missing something...?

 

[Sluicebox]

oneofus, No you're absolutely right. I don't know how they are going to enforce it, import of seeds that is. Unless they want the growers to pay to implement some kind of DNA data base of all genetics in the state. I've been ordering what I can afford when I can to get ahead of that. Huge difference in fresh genetics vs hand me down washed out cuts from friends with bugs. I forgot what it was like not to have to stake up a plant!

I hope they don't plan on keeping those walls up that you speak of. On the breeding side of that could you imagine having to purchase an RFID tag for every plant in your program?
The breeder I've been buying seeds from has dozens of greenhouses and large buildings at his nursery. He's considered a smaller breeder too.

Canada will be legal by next year. Will be interesting to see what kind of changes come of that.