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Oregon Cracking Down on Illegal Cannabis Grows

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Under a new law, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) says police will now have more authority to crack down on illegal cannabis grows, limit the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in hemp products and allow for more product testing in the market.

House Bill 3000 directs the OLCC, which will officially change its name to the Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission on August 2 to reflect its new regulatory responsibilities, to work with the Oregon Department of Agriculture as well as other state and local agencies to further regulate illegal cannabis grows. 

The new law also allows for new enforcement on registered hemp grows to see if cannabis is being grown disguised as hemp. Through September, OLCC inspectors will visit and inspect every registered hemp grow site in Oregon. Industrial hemp regulations cap the THC limit in hemp at 0.3 percent THC, but OLCC Executive Director Steven Marks said investigators aren’t looking for mistakes, rather grows that use registered farms as a cover to illegally grow cannabis.

Two southern counties in Oregon, Jackson and Josephine Counties, will be a focal point in the beginning of the testing period due to the rise of illegal grows in southern Oregon. Marks said testing the over 700 registered grows in the two counties, as well as Douglas County, will be a “doable big, big task.”

“We’re really not trying to define what hemp is here: we’re really trying to spot check and take a minimum amount of samples to figure out what is commercial marijuana,” Marks said. “This will enable [the Department of Agriculture] or law enforcement to stop the illegal production of marijuana disguised as hemp production.”

The law also adds tighter restrictions around sale of delta-8 THC products. Until HB 3000, minors were able to purchase delta-8 THC at grocery and convenience stores. Delta-8 THC is a less potent version of delta-9 THC, the main compound in cannabis that causes the high. Delta-8 THC can be extracted from either hemp or cannabis plants, and under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp can be legally grown and used for extractions, causing there to be a question on the legality of delta-8. Nearly all of the delta-8 THC on the market is manufactured from hemp-derived CBD, making it technically legal on a federal level.

The state will also set limits and serving-size guidance for delta-8 THC products and prohibit the sale of CBD products that have not been tested for delta-8 THC. The OLCC previously banned cannabis vape additives to prevent more vape-related lung injuries from happening, as well as requiring cannabis vape companies to disclose more detailed information about what is in their vape products.

“We’re going to put out guidance this week to retailers,” Marks said. “The tests are available, so legitimate CBD producers can get those tests and keep their products on the market out there.”

HB 3000 also created a new class of consumer products called “Adult Use Cannabis Items,” which now include an industrial hemp commodity or product that exceeds a concentration of Adult Use Cannabinoids or a concentration of delta-9 THC that exceeds 0.3 percent THC. The bill gave the OLCC rulemaking authority to establish what level of Adult Use Cannabinoid causes a product to become an Adult Use Cannabis Item, which the OLCC wasted no time in creating.

Under the OLCC rules, an industrial hemp commodity or product becomes an Adult Use Cannabis product if it contains 0.5 milligrams or more of any combination of THC, including both delta-9 and delta-8, contains any amount of artificially-derived cannabinoids or has to been shown to contain less than 0.5 milligrams of THC.