Planning to sell recreational pot products in Portland? Start saving.
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission this afternoon finally unveiled the proposed fee schedule it’ll charge businesses looking to bust into the state’s cannabis market once OLCC licenses become available early next year. Taken in tandem with expensive new regulations the City of Portland just passed, the fees amount to $10,200 to apply for and receive permissions to sell pot within city limits.
That’s about evenly split between the city’s licensing fees ($5,150 to apply for and get a retail license) and the state’s ($5,050). What’s more, the majority of those fees will recur every year, as retailers look to renew their state and local licenses.
The outlook’s not much kinder for people hoping to get into other aspects of the cannabis game in Portland. Under state and local rules, large-scale growers would pay $8,550 to apply for and receive licenses. Processing operations would pay $7,550.
“Basically the fees have to pay for the program,” says Mark Pettinger, the OLCC’s spokesman for all things pot. “This reflects an educated estimate of the costs.”
The statewide fees far exceed Washington’s fees for pot licenses, but they’re comparable to Colorado’s [pdf]. Here’s the full rundown:
Also unveiled today: Draft limits for how much product pot farmers can grow in Oregon. The state is thinking of running with a two-tiered system for both indoor and outdoor growers. Tier 1 indoor farms can grow up to 5,000 square feet of pot canopy, while Tier 2 indoor operations can grow up to 10,000 square feet.
Similarly, outdoor growers can grow up to 20,000 square feet on a Tier 1 license, and up to 40,000 square feet on a Tier 2.
That upper limit tops Washington’s 30,000 limit under its three-tiered system. But Oregon’s plans will also limit enormous indoor grows that exist up north.
Clearly, it’s time for a new referendum. I think we need one that requires the OLC to make the laws for marijuana and alcohol as similar and parallel as possible. So, for example, if it costs $500 to get a license to open a distillery, it should cost $500 for a license to grow cannabis.
Similarly, if you can get a brewers license that allows sale and consumption to retail customers on-premises, than the exact same language should be used to allow cannabis growers to do the same.
The only time OLC and state government should be allowed to deviate from this simple practice is by passing a law through the legislature that grants them permission for the deviation because there is a quantifiable, material difference between the two situations.