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Oregon Senate Passes Bill to Halt Cannabis Licensing for 2 Years

Clear plastic garbage bags that have been stuffed with commercial-grade cannabis nugs.

A bill to temporarily cap Oregon’s cannabis business licenses has passed the Senate and now moves to the House; Oregon currently has an oversupply of cannabis products that would last the state more than six years at current consumption rates.

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An Oregon bill to place a two-year moratorium on cannabis licensing backed by Gov. Kate Brown has passed the Senate and moves next to the House, the Portland Mercury reports. The legislation comes nearly three months after the state Liquor Control Commission reported the state had more than 6.5 years of oversupply with the current market’s demand.

In a statement, Democratic State Sen. Floyd Prozanski said the bill “will protect the existing legal market,” in the state.

“We currently have a flood of cannabis production happening in our state. There is a ‘green rush’ happening in our state right now and, while we support a healthy and thriving new cannabis industry, the oversupply has caused plummeting product costs. Much of the product created by this oversupply is going into the illicit market that legalized cannabis was intended to curb.” — Prozanski, in a statement, via the Portland Mercury

The measure, deemed “emergency legislation,” passed the Senate 18-0 on Tuesday; it failed in the same chamber 17-3 last month, according to a Willamette Week report.

According to the CanbyNow Podcast, the price-per-gram has dropped from $14 in 2015 to less than $7 by the end of last year. A study released last month by Oxford Treatment Center found Oregon had the lowest price for “high quality” legal flower products with an average of $210.75 per ounce.

In testimony in support of the measure, Obie Strickler, CEO of licensed producer Grown Rogue, said the industry needs to remain “financially healthy” to remain beneficial to the state.

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