Thousands of medicinal marijuana growers fail to notify state

Salem, Ore.– Thousands of Oregon’s medical marijuana producers may be forced to change their operations after failing to file paperwork with the state.

The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program gave growers, processors and dispensaries until December 1st to notify the state of their decision. The choice that had to be made was either moving to OLCC and apply for a license, indicate they were growing for themselves or remain with OMMP and agree to use the Cannabis Tracking System and pay an additional fee of $480 to register.

If they failed to notify of any of these decisions, their registration would not be renewed.

As of December 15th, around 15,000 producers failed to respond. For many growers its tough to keep up with changing rules.

“It’s changing a lot but at some point the dust is gonna settle,” said Clay Bearnson, co-owner of Oregon Farmacy in Medford. “Ultimately the goal our state legislature has the marching orders to do what it has to do to mitigate the black market activity.”

OMMP officials believe one reason the number is so high is because producers may be planning on registering with the OLCC instead. That allows them to work with recreational marijuana in addition to medicinal.

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