Virtually everyone in the Oregon cannabis community understands that new rules and regulations can pose serious obstacles for those in the industry, but new lab testing rules have proven to be the biggest challenge yet. Starting on October 1st, every regulated medical dispensary and retail store is required to only accept marijuana and marijuana products from growers and processors that have tested their goods at labs certified by the Oregon Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ORELAP). The lack of access to ORELAP certified labs has led to a bottleneck in the supply chain and an increase to the costs of tests.

Noelle Crombie reported in The Oregonian:

Some makers of marijuana concentrates, extracts and edibles are sounding dire alarms about how the state’s new testing rules are holding back their products from the market and jeopardizing their businesses.

They complain that the state lacks approved labs to carry out all of the required tests, causing long delays, forcing them to mull layoffs and generally leaving them out of the state’s new recreational marijuana program that opened this month.

The state has 18 accredited and approved labs for marijuana; only four are approved to test for pesticides, a hallmark of Oregon’s marijuana regulation.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC), the regulatory body in charge of the legal cannabis market, called for input from industry participants, many of whom have called for a pushback against the new lab regulations. The OLCC has been relatively adaptive to the needs of the cannabis market, so they will hopefully adjust as needed to keep the burgeoning cannabis market.

Attendees of the Oregon Marijuana Business Conference (OMBC) will have the opportunity to hear from industry entrepreneurs that have first-hand experience with these new lab requirements as well as Rob Patridge, Chair of the OLCC. While these new law requirements are posing serious hurdles to the industry, those that can jump over these hurdles will have a great opportunity to thrive in the Oregon cannabis market. If you are in the Oregon cannabis industry, or thinking of joining, get your tickets to the OMBC and have your answers addressed by entrepreneurs, experts and the Chair of the OLCC.