Currently, Oregon’s cannabis industry is in crisis, especially our cannabis growers. Oregon’s 1000+ farms are producing far more cannabis than Oregonians can consume -forcing a price war among producers that has driven prices down to unsustainable rates. The result is thousands of companies fighting to survive, putting thousands more jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of local capital at imminent risk of loss.

The constraints on Oregon’s market are a consequence of legalization. The barriers preventing growers from accessing legal markets within the state will force much of that perishable excess supply into other states, no matter what. That’s already happening. Oregon has been a net-exporter of cannabis for decades. We know prohibition doesn’t work. We want those sales to be legal, regulated, and taxed.

The Solution is simple – We Must Legalize Cannabis Exports. It would:

1. 1)  Ensure that Oregon and our cannabis – world-renowned for its outstanding quality - are the leading supplier of cannabis to the rest of the country and the rest of the world, just like we are for hops.

2. 2)  Create a thriving cannabis economy, employing tens of thousands and generating hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars of revenue for Oregon’s cannabis farms and other small businesses.

3. 3)  Create a new stream of tax revenue for the state and local counties potentially many times larger than we currently raise from the in-state retail sales of cannabis

4. 4)  Incentivize licensure and dramatically reduce the amount of cannabis entering the illicit market

Oregon Legislature’s Role: Please pass a bill that gives the Governor’s office and the OLCC the authority and flexibility to regulate and legally export cannabis to other states or countries as soon as possible. We know that the federal legalization of cannabis is looming, and we want to make sure that Oregon can begin exporting as soon as that happens. We must remove the barriers in state statute now.

Ways the legislature can help Oregon’s cannabis farmers and processors:

1. Fix Oregon’s statutes that currently make it illegal to export cannabis even if it were federally legal.

2. Enable the OLCC to develop the necessary rules and systems ahead of time so that we are fully ready

   to increase our production and exporting to inter-state and international markets as soon as possible.

3. Protect the value of existing cannabis licensees and the early investments that it took to create them.

4. Drive the legal cannabis export conversation forward nationally, to expedite federal legalization.

5. Accelerate the creation of thousands of jobs in cannabis production, processing, and distribution.

We urge you to support legislation that would allow for the legal export of cannabis as soon as possible, so we can grow this important sector of the state’s economy.

The Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association (ORCA) is a non-profit trade association of over 350 member businesses working to create a thriving and respected legal cannabis industry in Oregon.