Oregon cannabis regulators have established a new rule requiring licensed cultivators to notify the state each time they harvest a cannabis crop, The Associated Press reports.
Oregon – whose marketplace has been plagued with overproduction due to the state’s prime growing environment and a lack of licensing cap on growers – is the first state to take this step in cannabis enforcement.
Mark Pettinger, spokesperson for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, likened the new rule to an “audit,” saying that officials will come on the day of harvest to make sure that the plant totals being entered into the cannabis tracking database match the actual, on-site plant totals.
The new rule was originally going to require three day’s notice before a harvest, but cultivators pushed back on this and it was changed to 9:00 a.m. on the day of harvest.
Pettinger said the state had 23 inspectors on staff, which would not be enough to physically inspect each harvest but that the possibility of inspection should encourage good behavior.
“A lot of growers are far-flung, but we have a concentration of inspectors in southern Oregon, and it’s the southern Oregon outdoor growing activity that has anecdotally and historically been sort of a crucible of where a lot of diversion and illegal activity takes place.” – Mark Pettinger, spokesperson for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, via the AP
Licensed growers, however, say the rule unfairly targets their segment of the marketplace – specifically outdoor growers, as the rule does not affect indoor growers; outdoor growers get just one harvest each year, while indoor growers are slotted three.
“Which target are you going to go after if you’re shooting? You’re going to go after your easy target. I don’t think there’s a single instance where it’s been demonstrated that somebody is attempting to divert product.” – Pete Gendron, President of the Oregon SunGrowers Guild