Oregon SunGrowers’ Guild

Problem

Measure 91, which legalized recreational use of cannabis in Oregon in 2014, was meant to establish an adult use market that would co-exist with, and not supplant or disrupt, the deep-rooted medical marijuana system already in existence for 15 years. However, as the Joint Committee on Marijuana Regulation tackled their final year of implementation, a desire to consolidate all growers under the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) licensure dominated the 2017 legislative agenda, while the medical program (OMMP) was rapidly eroding in the shifting industry dynamic.

The Oregon SunGrower’s Guild (OSGG), the leading trade association representing both medical and recreational outdoor producers of cannabis, enlisted Summit Strategies to ensure their mostly small, family farm members could successfully transition from the medical to the recreational sector under OLCC. At the same time, OSGG sought to preserve the ability of members electing to remain medical growers to continue to serve patients under the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) without undue cost or regulatory burdens.

Summit Solution

Summit’s efforts resulted in the derailment of the legislation that would have consolidated all growers under the OLCC and gutted the OMMP. Then, working with a small subcommittee of legislators and key stakeholders, we were able to ensure passage of HB 2198, which creates the Oregon Cannabis Commission. The Commission will determine the future governance structure for modernizing the medical program, ensure patient access to affordable medicine, and support research.

Summit’s coordinated lobbying effort involved:

  • Preparing formal position papers;

  • Coalition building;

  • Grassroots campaigning; and

  • Lobbying the Joint Committee on Marijuana Regulation.

Summit’s efforts resulted in the derailment of the legislation that would have consolidated all growers under the OLCC and gutted the OMMP. Then, working with a small subcommittee of legislators and key stakeholders, we were able to ensure passage of HB 2198, which creates the Oregon Cannabis Commission. The Commission will determine the future governance structure for modernizing the medical program, ensure patient access to affordable medicine, and support research. Further, we negotiated a key facet of the bill that allows medical growers to transfer a limited amount of excess product annually (currently restricted to patients) into the new recreational market.

Result

On August 4, 2017 Governor Kate Brown signed HB 2198 into law and will soon be appointing members to the Oregon Cannabis Commission, which will shape the future of the medical marijuana program in Oregon, after years of floundering under the OHA. With a vibrant program that supports research, Oregon is poised to be a national and international leader in the medical cannabis arena, and tens of thousands of patients in the state will be better served.

Beginning in July of 2018, thousands of medical growers will be able to sell into the recreational retail market, providing a necessary outlet for their excess product after the mass migration of medical dispensaries – currently their only legal outlet – to the recreational system. This will also help offset increasing cost burdens for small medical growers, allowing them to remain in the medical system and provide for their patients. These measures will help keep the medical and recreational systems separate while diminishing leakage into the unregulated market, opening up new opportunities in the regulated market, and creating stability in the long term for Oregon’s burgeoning cannabis industry.