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

[OregonBorn]

More bills, less thrills. They are tightening up the loopholes.

Amusing that they are keeping the acronym OLCC, but the name will be changed to the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission.

This version of the house bill also clips the sails for growing clones and for growing rec + medical. Specifically it allows for up to 6 mature plants per medical card, and up to 12 immature plants per medical card. It also disallows for the added 4 rec plant grows at the same address. So no more unlimited cloning, and no 10 plant limit with 1 med card + rec, boys and girls. Immature plants are also defined as being less than 2 feet tall.

Ostensibly this and the senate bill 306 will be rolled into one, and signed into law.

 

[socioecologist]

Got a brief math problem, in story form. Let's say the Oregon rec market sells about 15k pounds of flower / flower equivalent per month through licensed stores. Producer licenses numbered 585 at the end of May. How many pounds per month could each producer sell if total demand was equally apportioned?

How large would each farm need to be to produce this "average" farm sales amount each month?

What kind of revenue does that generate for an "average" farm selling at today's wholesale pricing each year?


****

A: 25 pounds per month, per farm.

 

[Sluicebox]

25 per month, wow no wonder the Lobbyists are hitting up their favorite politicians to crap all over Medical.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

25pounds x 12months x $2000/lb = over half a million bucks a year on less than an acre of land. Any farmer of any other crop would be crying tears of joy to squeeze that much money out of so little soil.

 

[Sluicebox]

I'll admit PDX you raise a very valid point, I retract my cynicism. Even running your model at 600 per unit equates to very favorable numbers. My apologies for always being so negative on the issue. It's my fault alone that I live where I do. I should nut up and pack my shit and move to a more favorable locale vs whining about it all the time. When I'm wrong I'll come out and say it. My sincere apologies to all in this thread. Be well

 

[orechron]

One of my rec clients was talking about a rating system for outdoor flower, categories 1-5, like it was a statewide or common categorization. They said nobody has produced category 5 (highest quality) flowers? Is this something any of you have heard?

I have some plants that will produce very nice looking flowers for outdoor. Cookie hybrids and west coast dog. I'm wondering if 1000-1200/unit is still achievable this season and next.

 

[OregonBorn]

25pounds x 12months x $2000/lb = over half a million bucks a year on less than an acre of land. Any farmer of any other crop would be crying tears of joy to squeeze that much money out of so little soil.

Yes, I did the numbers here and for a 40k sq ft grow I would haul in a million a year gross. But there are limitations, recurring costs, lots of restrictions, licenses, requirements and risks. You cannot even grow commercial weed in 3/4 of this state, geographically. There are also high start-up costs. Also mites and weather do not give a rats ass about numbers. Just ask any Southern Oregon outdoor growers about last year. Also the OLCC does not find or guarantee you a buyer. You have to do that, and negotiate a price. And grow a salable product.

Bottom line, its not like you can just toss some seeds into the soil and reap the harvests. Many are failing in rec grow operations. Or just selling out. But there is little doubt that the market can easily be flooded with product here in Oregon, and even more so in California. Also California is taxing growers at a MUCH higher rate than Oregon. Like in $1-3 a square foot county or city canopy tax per year, on top of a $9.25 an ounce growers excise tax, on top of high sales and excise taxes at the point of retail sale.

If you think that Oregon counties and the state will not catch on to that, think again. This OLCC/OHA process is anything but static, and changes constantly. That adds risk. And greed rules supreme. Oregon government just wants to tax tax tax and tax some more. They are in the process of jacking up taxes on all kinds of things right now in Salem. So IMO, either grow taxes and licenses will increase cutting into margins, or prices will tank and level out where growers make a return barely covering expenses, like everything else that is grown and sold on the commercial commodities markets. Basic supply and demand. Fat margins rarely last long unless there is a monopoly.

 

[socioecologist]

25pounds x 12months x $2000/lb = over half a million bucks a year on less than an acre of land. Any farmer of any other crop would be crying tears of joy to squeeze that much money out of so little soil.

Amen! Great returns per acre versus other crops for sure, though the per acre input costs are exponentially higher as currently farmed. It's all about net profit. We gross $100k per acre (when things go right) selling at $50 per pound. Net is much less, but still better than hazelnuts.

I just keep looking at the average amount sold by OLCC farms and shake my head: 300 pounds per year. Do you really need 40k sq. ft. to produce 300 pounds? Most definitely not! We produce 1000 pounds per year in each of the 2000 sq. ft. greenhouses we run and it could easily be a one person show if the goal was 300. Think for a second about the rec farms / farmers you know--how many scaled their operations towards what the market can actually absorb vs. how much could be grown under the current canopy limit? Each of those farms should be capable of kicking out 10x what is demanded from each one. If that were to happen, state licensed farms will be sitting on about 1.25m pounds of excess flowers--or 10 years of in-state demand.

I don't think the current system will last much longer.

 

[Dr.King]

Amen! Great returns per acre versus other crops for sure, though the per acre input costs are exponentially higher as currently farmed. It's all about net profit. We gross $100k per acre (when things go right) selling at $50 per pound. Net is much less, but still better than hazelnuts.

I just keep looking at the average amount sold by OLCC farms and shake my head: 300 pounds per year. Do you really need 40k sq. ft. to produce 300 pounds? Most definitely not! We produce 1000 pounds per year in each of the 2000 sq. ft. greenhouses we run and it could easily be a one person show if the goal was 300. Think for a second about the rec farms / farmers you know--how many scaled their operations towards what the market can actually absorb vs. how much could be grown under the current canopy limit? Each of those farms should be capable of kicking out 10x what is demanded from each one. If that were to happen, state licensed farms will be sitting on about 1.25m pounds of excess flowers--or 10 years of in-state demand.

I don't think the current system will last much longer.

I do agree and see how much Cannabis there actually is in Oregon now. The funny thing is that all the dispensaries have the same products from time to time in a huge list that just changes. Even if all the rec growers did produce 1.25 mil of excess it would be the exact same flowers. I've very happy with the new law allowing med growers to sell a limited amount to dispensaries. Maybe this will step up the quality of selections of flowers.

 

[kelly1376]

I'm not sure most of the rec outdoor farms were up and running last year due to the lengthy application process, time needed to secure land and do build outs, and lack of testing facilities creating an artificial shortage.

As of now there's 1509 producer apps in:

https://www.oregon.gov/olcc/marijuana/Documents/mj_app_stats_by_county.pdf

I'll be surprised if you dont start seeing that flood hit big time this fall. I look for eventual pricing under $500/lb and that's still about 10x more than any other commodity on the same acreage.

 

[OregonBorn]

Amusing numbers. The average of 300 lb a year seems really low. Is that for all licenses of all type I/II and micro I/II canopy sizes? Or just type II? Though I could not get a half ton harvested from a 2,000 ft greenhouse here like you do. That is a premium grow operation and double or even quadruple what I figured I can grow in a GH here. Are they lighted?

Outdoor growing is going to be a challenge for many in Oregon as I see it. Oregon is a trap for seasonal weather and climate variation from year to year. I see that in the Oregon grape harvests. 2 years ago was perfect California Mediterranean weather. This year is a downright COLD and wet Maritime climate.

I just keep looking at the average amount sold by OLCC farms and shake my head: 300 pounds per year. Do you really need 40k sq. ft. to produce 300 pounds? Most definitely not! We produce 1000 pounds per year in each of the 2000 sq. ft. greenhouses we run and it could easily be a one person show if the goal was 300. Think for a second about the rec farms / farmers you know--how many scaled their operations towards what the market can actually absorb vs. how much could be grown under the current canopy limit? Each of those farms should be capable of kicking out 10x what is demanded from each one. If that were to happen, state licensed farms will be sitting on about 1.25m pounds of excess flowers--or 10 years of in-state demand.

I don't think the current system will last much longer.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Amen! Great returns per acre versus other crops for sure, though the per acre input costs are exponentially higher as currently farmed. It's all about net profit. We gross $100k per acre (when things go right) selling at $50 per pound. Net is much less, but still better than hazelnuts.

I just keep looking at the average amount sold by OLCC farms and shake my head: 300 pounds per year. Do you really need 40k sq. ft. to produce 300 pounds? Most definitely not! We produce 1000 pounds per year in each of the 2000 sq. ft. greenhouses we run and it could easily be a one person show if the goal was 300. Think for a second about the rec farms / farmers you know--how many scaled their operations towards what the market can actually absorb vs. how much could be grown under the current canopy limit? Each of those farms should be capable of kicking out 10x what is demanded from each one. If that were to happen, state licensed farms will be sitting on about 1.25m pounds of excess flowers--or 10 years of in-state demand.

I don't think the current system will last much longer.

I agree, things in the marketplace are probably not balanced from the get-go in a way that will allow every farm to stay in business. People who aren't good with numbers are likely to suffer because of the large costs of starting & operating a farm. Thats pretty similar to a lot of industries though, owning a business can be a pretty big gamble & starting a successful business is often a painful & costly process that takes years of adjustment & investment before any payoff materializes.
I doubt that the input costs necessarily guarantee that a farm selling 300lbs/y is going to be guaranteed to go under.
Who knows, maybe all of those folks still sitting on the sidelines because they fear Jeff Sessions & Steve Cook should be thanking those two instead of cursing them.

 

[Robrites]

Oregon Wins! er, loses?

Oregon Wins! er, loses?

 

[Robrites]

View Image

Lets all move to North Dakota and start some sort of a co-op to raise money and change the laws...

 

[socioecologist]

Lets all move to North Dakota and start some sort of a co-op to raise money and change the laws...

Better hurry, GW Pharma's got you beat to South Dakota (at least on CBD).

https://www.leafly.com/news/politics/leafly-exclusive-gw-pharma-moving-cbd-bills-low

Just found out today that they have two lobbyists on staff here in Oregon for the same purpose...Matt Markee and Thomas Cuomo. $17k in expenditures this legislative session...more details after filing deadlines approach.

 

[OregonBorn]

OR is the cheapest?!

OR is the cheapest?!

Must be from all these $5 grams and $15 Eighths that I buy! Seriously, there has been some really good cheap weed for sale at some places in PDX lately. I have over 20 strains now in my weed box. GDP? SSH? WW? Maybe some Orange Skunk? Decisions decisions.

Hard to believe that I could be jailed for life or executed for having a mere half pound on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

View Image

 

[Robrites]

Contaminated marijuana still reaching consumers in Oregon

Contaminated marijuana still reaching consumers in Oregon

By Noelle Crombie
[email protected]
The Oregonian/OregonLive

Nine months after Oregon issued the toughest rules in the nation to keep pesticide-tainted marijuana off store shelves, the state acknowledges that some contaminated products continue to reach consumers.
The admission underscores the tricky work of effectively regulating a plant long tied to illegal pesticide use.
Oregon, like other states with legal marijuana, wrote its own rules to crack down on pesticides in cannabis production. But it has faced a backlash from parts of the state's nearly $320 million industry over the expense and inefficiency of the requirements and the inconsistency of the results.
Though the state has authority to do random tests on marijuana sold at shops, regulators so far haven't done that. The Oregonian/OregonLive decided to conduct a spot check to see if Oregon's pesticide rules have led to clean cannabis.
The newsroom bought a small sample of marijuana products from Portland retail outlets and had them tested. The check followed the newsroom's comprehensive 2015 reporting on widespread contamination, which helped spawn Oregon's effort to control pesticide use and set testing rules.
The independent tests produced mixed results that reflect the frustration of regulators, state-licensed testing labs and makers of the marijuana products themselves.
Marijuana flowers, extracts and edibles sold to the public carry labels that indicate they meet state pesticide standards. Marijuana must be tested for 59 pesticides before it can be sold at any of the state's 457 legal cannabis shops.
Most of the 10 cannabis extracts in The Oregonian/OregonLive tests came back showing they passed the standards, but three showed contamination at levels that should have kept them off the market. However, during retests of those extracts, the results differed: Only one came back contaminated.
The experiment, while limited in scope, shows the state and the industry struggling to get a handle on how to monitor pesticide use as they contend with public health implications for consumers.
Heeding the outcry, the Oregon Health Authority recently relaxed some rules. For instance, the state will consider allowing marijuana companies a chance to clean up marijuana flowers tainted with two pesticides that pose a low risk to human health.
The agency dropped proposals that would have significantly reduced the frequency of testing flowers and cannabis extracts.
Before the decision last month, the proposed changes had become a flashpoint for labs and the marijuana growers and processors vying for space in Oregon's hyper-competitive cannabis extracts market. The state received an estimated 9,000 comments on the rules, with most advocating for keeping stringent regulations in place.
The availability of high-quality marijuana is, in part, what drew voter support, said Andrew Freedman, former marijuana policy coordinator for Colorado and a consultant to states with legal marijuana.
"In some ways," Freedman said, "this is why they were asking for a regulated system. People are looking to the government to figure this out."
Oregon stands out nationwide for its thorough approach, requiring a network of state-licensed cannabis labs to screen products for pesticide and potency before they head into the regulated market. Colorado and Washington, the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational consumers, rely on their state agriculture labs to do random analyses of marijuana crops and respond to complaints.
The new rules mean consumers in Oregon should feel more confident that what they're smoking and vaping is clean, said Andre Ourso, a manager for the health authority. But Oregon's system isn't a promise that every product on the shelf is pure, he said.
"I don't think it's reasonable for the general public to think that everything is 100 percent clean and safe," he said. "What we do as regulators is decrease the risk that something that would have an adverse health effect on the public would be consumed. I think these rules really do minimize those risks."

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

When are they going to give us the weed license plates? Our tax rates are higher than what the boozebags pay and it's apparently state government policy or at least some sort of tradition to use vehicular permits to advertise for inebriating substance manufacturers. I think a nice yellow slab of shatter could be a good background image. Until then just imagine thats a pot farm and not grapes

 

[Aota1]

I've heard some intimate details about two of the 3 failed shatter companies. One of them apparently had a big batch of failed product and entered it into the system under another clean batch number and unloaded it all to one shop on the cheap. I heard a disgruntled ex employee blew the whistle. Craziness. The other co. Is known for lower grade product and i was asked by my rep if I had any of the tainted product a couple months ago. Luckily I didn't. These cats need to clean their acts up and, in the case of pesticides, those growers need to learn.

 

[OregonBorn]

In these cases the OLCC has to step up and do their job. Otherwise these fools will run around them and dump tainted product to salvage costs. But like the OHA and ODOT, the OLCC seems pretty useless when it comes to managing anything. IMO, this state is run by vacuum brains at all levels, starting at the top. I have to wonder if they are any smarter than the clowns blowing themselves up making shatter on the coast or smoking their own tainted dabbs? As my father used to ask me when I was a kid: "Who is dumber, the crooks or the cops?"

I am unaffected though, as I do not smoke wax. I also grow most of the weed that I smoke. I use Neem and ag oil and that is all for PM and mite prevention. And then I expose it to lots and lots of UV light that break it down. Of course there is a bag of wind on this site campaigning that Neem is the root of all evil and that it never decomposes. It will kill us all simply because he is allergic to aza.