Thoughts from the void: Cannabis and Oregon

Oregon was one of the early movers in terms of US states that brought about legalization of cannabis for adult recreational use. This is in addition to legal medical cannabis.

Oregon was in the news for a huge glut of cannabis produce that drew the prices down sharply in 2018, prices being 50% lesser than at the same time in the previous year. The tax revenues from sales of cannabis was higher since more people purchased cannabis at the lower rates indicating that lower prices makes cannabis affordable to a larger number of people while high prices deprives many, possibly the ones who need cannabis the most, the poorest, the minorities, the indigenous communities, the elderly, the ill, the youth and women of access to affordable cannabis. There were concerns that medical cannabis was being purchased from the legal market and being sold in the illicit market at one point forcing regulators to reduce the cap for a short time on the amount of cannabis that could be purchased by a medical user.

In 2020, Oregon's revenues from cannabis crossed $1 billion for the first time.

More and more people seem to be switching from the medical cannabis market to the recreational cannabis market due to the ease of purchasing in the recreational market as against the complex rules in the medical market. Medical cannabis sales are said to have dropped by 40% since recreational sales began. This is a natural process and simplifying access to consumers should be the priority anyway rather than protecting certain types of businesses. To boost medical cannabis, steps such as home delivery in places with limited access as well as raising the daily purchase limits of medical cannabis card holders are being looked at.

The over production of cannabis has even raised the possibility that Oregon may be the first US state to export cannabis to other states with lawmakers looking at the feasibility of the step.

Oregon Cannabis Commission said that the state needs to have a single independent regulatory body rather than the three government agencies that currently regulate cannabis. The presence of the three agencies poses the chances of conflict and confusion especially among cultivators.

At least 35 US states have legalized cannabis for medical use so far. The federal US government however continues to keep cannabis in the Schedule 1 list of banned substances saying that it has no medicinal value. The list of US states that have legalized adult recreational cannabis is available here. All these states have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, aimed specifically at improving public health, ensuring equity, reducing crime, decreasing the black market, improving law enforcement, reforming criminal justice, improving the economy, agriculture and industry, to name just a few reasons.

Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.

'Passage of the 2018 Farm Bill sparked both sharp nationwide increases in licensing and explosive sales growth for 2019.
The issuance of U.S. hemp-cultivation licenses saw a year-over-year, nationwide increase of 364% (from 3,546 in 2018 to 16,462 in 2019).
Small family farms’ entry to the space drove licensing booms in some states, while other states saw the arrival of Big Agriculture interests in their markets.
In 2019, Tennessee led the trend with 3,200 new licenses, marking more than a 13x increase over its 226 in 2018. Conversely, Montana’s comparatively low 277 licenses in 2019 represent nearly 40,000 acres, averaging a Big Ag-style footprint of more than 144 acres apiece.
Traditional hemp states Colorado, Kentucky, and Oregon continue to lead in cultivation as the nation overall shows a projected 225,000 acres harvested in 2019, more than a 180% increase beyond 78,176 in 2018.'

https://newfrontierdata.com/marijuana-insights/increases-in-state-issued-hemp-licenses/

Cannabit from New Frontier Data...

'The 29 U.S. states having reporting licensed hemp cultivation acreage total nearly half a million acres in combined cultivation land area, a massive increase over 2018’s combined U.S. total of just over 100,000 acres.
Colorado leads the nation in hemp cultivation and processing land area with over 80,000 acres reported.
Oregon, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Montana lead in hemp program expansion efforts.
Tennessee leads in total hemp licenses issued in 2019.
At least 70% of the 2019 U.S. hemp harvest is intended for extract production.
California is poised to be the top-producing hemp state for both conventional and organic production as thousands of acres have already been planted in 2019'

https://newfrontierdata.com/marijuana-insights/hemp-licenses-issued-by-state-2019/

'A study on the impact of cannabis legalization on alcohol sales in Colorado, Oregon and Washington, the three states with the longest history of legal nonmedical use of cannabis, showed that there was no evidence that legalization had had any impact on the sale of spirits or on total alcohol sales, which are generally considered a good proxy for alcohol consumption in the United States. The study showed that the per capita sale of spirits had increased by 3.6 per cent in Oregon, 5.4 per cent in Washington and 7.6 per cent in Colorado in 2018, after the measures allowing the non-medical use of cannabis were implemented in those states. Consistent with national trends, per capita sales of beer had declined by 3.6 per cent in Colorado, 2.3 per cent in Washington and 3.6 per cent in Oregon. The sale of wine increased by 0.7 per cent in Oregon, declined by 3.1 per cent in Washington and increased by 3.2 per cent in Colorado. Overall, per capita sales of alcoholic beverages were fairly stable, as they increased by 1.7 per cent in Colorado, declined by 0.2 per cent in Washington and declined by 0.5 per cent in Oregon' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf

'In Colorado, marijuana shops sold more than $192 million in May, according to Denver alt-weekly Westword. That’s up from $148 million the month prior.

In Illinois, the state’s cannabis stores sold $47.6 million worth of marijuana in June, another record for the nascent recreational cannabis market, according to the Daily Herald of Arlington Heights. That was up from a high of $44 million in May.

In Oregon, marijuana sales totals hit $103 million in May, topping the $100 million mark for the first time, the Portland Business Journal reported.

Then the state set a record in June, reaching just over $100 million'
https://mjbizdaily.com/multiple-states-continue-to-post-record-breaking-cannabis-sales-numbers/

'In April, Oregon saw $89 million in legal marijuana sales. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission reports marijuana sales were up 45% in April, compared to last year, making April 2020 the largest month on record for the state'
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/oregon-sees-record-breaking-89-million-in-marijuana-sales-for-april/283-fae5cbc4-0d25-4936-b749-bf049a408270