Oregon Officials Say State Is Overproducing Cannabis Plants
Oregon officials have reported that the state's cannabis growers are producing more recreational weed than people are buying and consuming on a retail level.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is tasked with regulating the state's two-year-old cannabis industry and has since found that, in 2017, growers produced over one million pounds of cannabis. Of that amount, retailers only sold 108,330 pounds to consumers, leaving a staggering 891,000 of recreational weed to spare.
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Experts and officials aren't yet sure what this means for the recreational weed market in Oregon. According to Mark Pettinger, a spokesman for the OLCC, the market is too new to spot any trends. Additionally, the retail numbers only point to how much flower was sold, and don't take into account other recreational cannabis products such as edibles, tinctures, and concentrates. In reality, the amount of spare cannabis could be much lower.
"There's a lot of unknowns about this," Pettinger said. "We've not even processed two full years of legal recreational cannabis through the OLCC system. It's been a challenge to forecast this market."
However, wholesale prices for cannabis have seen a drop, a sign of overproduction in Oregon. With countless producers vying for the state's top spot, many have suggested Oregon is going through a process of weeding out the competition. Only top producers will continue to flourish as the market continues to mature.
Recreational cannabis remains a relatively new market. Opportunities are still bountiful and companies have yet to solidify their status compared to giants in other industries. It is likely more people will continue to jump into the cannabis market as more states legalize weed for recreational use.
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