Officials in Oregon are working to address concerns of marijuana businesses that say delays in the state processing regulatory applications threaten chaos for the industry when new rules take effect on Saturday.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has scheduled an emergency meeting for Friday to discuss the matter, an agency spokesman said. Without action, medical dispensaries and recreational retail outlets may be forced to pull some products off their shelves.
The challenges are just some of the many compliance-related issues faced by marijuana businesses in states where pot is legalized or approved for medicinal use. The challenges include not just rules regarding labeling, packaging, licensing and testing of marijuana products, but how companies can access the banking system given the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug and prohibits its use.
Rules governing packaging and labeling of both medical and recreational products take effect Saturday, but require approval of applications detailing how each business changed its packaging and labeling to comply with the new rules. The changes will mandate that clear, easy-to-see warning labels are on each product, as is a new symbol to make clear these are marijuana products. Rules to ensure packaging doesnt appeal to children will also take effect.
A backlog in processing applications means many businesses wont have approval before Saturday, and unless changes are enacted, the state says any business without an approved application will be unable to sell products.
At this point the state is saying we will be fine but I dont think that is the business reality. The business reality is we will see a number of smaller businesses struggle with products being pulled off their shelves until they figure out how to repackage and re-label them to re-enter the market, said Amy Margolis, an attorney and director of the Oregon Cannabis Association trade group. The state has been clear stores are not to have any packages or labels on their shelves after Oct. 1 that have not been approved.
The association is working with commission officials to find ways to delay implementation of the new rules to allow businesses time to get applications approved and to order the packaging and labeling they will need. Its not a statutory deadline, this is an administrative rules deadline so there are a number of methods to have this pushed back to allow businesses some breathing room, said Ms. Margolis.
Tyson Haworth, owner of the Oregons Finest medical dispensary and recreational retail stores in Portland, and also the owner of a marijuana farm and a distribution company that sells to other stores, said there is a lot of confusion surrounding what will happen, whether that is regulatory authorities being confused between themselves or us in the industry being confused of what exactly is expected.
Mr. Haworth said he believes there should be a three-month transition period to allow people with existing products to sell them, as long as they are labeled to reflect they dont meet the testing rules taking effect Saturday. Here we are on Thursday and I dont know if I am going to be able to sell certain products on Saturday, he said. We have a lot of lawyers interpreting a lot of different rules and how they all work together. Its going to be challenging.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Oregon Scrambling To Implement New Marijuana Rules
Author: Ben Dipietro
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Photo Credit: Beth Nakamura
Website: Wall Street Journal
