Oregon dispensaries eager for recreational pot sales

The beginning of recreational marijuana sales in October, three months earlier than originally approved by Oregon voters, brings excitement but uncertainty to producers and vendors.

More than 200 of Oregon's 345 medical marijuana dispensaries have notified the Oregon Health Authority of their intent to sell recreational marijuana.

"They’re looking forward to the payday," said Marv Olson of Healing Green, a marijuana dispensary in Independence. "I’m expecting our business to at least double."

Starting Thursday, Oct. 1, Oregon customers 21 and older will be able to buy ready-to-smoke marijuana, seeds and live plants. The move is another major implementation of new rules following Oregon's adoption of a ballot measure that legalized the recreational marijuana market in-state and changes the Legislature made to govern the new market. Next, the state will put systems in place to license and tax the industry. Sales won't be taxed until January.

The state and marijuana businesses have been preparing for months to open the floodgates to new recreational-marijuana customers. As part of the preparation, dispensaries are stocking up on marijuana.

On Thursday afternoon, Adrienne Nelson and Coral Cronin of Wild West Growers, a cannabis farming collective based in Eugene, delivered product to one of their dispensary customers, CannaMedicine. For Nelson and Cronin, the start of recreational sales is a welcomed new chapter for their business.

"It's exciting, but nobody knows what to expect," Nelson said.

Olson is also filling his shop's supplies and said he's thrilled recreational sales are beginning. He hopes they'll help mitigate the stigma still surrounding marijuana use.

"I’ve been here since the '70s, and this has always been the state to go to for marijuana," Olson said.

Nelson and Cronin had been busy recently: Wild West Growers harvested more than 30 pounds of marijuana to get ready for the early sales start.

"I had product earlier this week, and I'll be out tomorrow," Nelson said.

CannaMedicine, the dispensary she and Cronin delivered to in an unmarked white van, is the largest in Salem and the second-largest in state, said its manager, Crystal Young.

Like dispensaries around the state, CannaMedicine is getting ready for a drove of new customers when recreational sales begin.

In the display room where marijuana products are available for sale, Young was setting up a new point-of-sale station for recreational customers. She usually has at least 24 strains of marijuana available for sale in glass jars. A dozen or so clones, immature marijuana plants, sat under a grow-light in the corner, a fan blowing fresh air over their distinctive leaves. They sell for $15 each.

Nelson mentioned she sells about 1,000 clones a week through Wild West Growers.

And although a lot of marijuana has been produced for the beginning of October, a customer can only buy 7 grams a day.

"Now, 7 grams is actually quite a bit. If you're smoking that much flower in a day, then you need to cut back," Olson said.

For Young, recreational sales will be a new aspect of her business, but she said prices at the dispensary should remain comparative to medicinal cannabis around $12 per gram.

"Some dispensaries are going to up the price anyways," Cronin said, adding that prices will reflect full-tax amounts so they can be adjusted without shocking customers when taxes do take effect.

Taxes won't be put in place until Jan. 4, when a 25 percent tax on retail sales at dispensaries will be enforced.

In the meantime, Young is concerned with stocking shelves and getting ready for customers. If they come late Wednesday night, waiting for the clock to strike midnight, she'll be ready for them.

"I'll make hot dogs for them if they want to line up," she said.

gfriedman2@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6653 or on Twitter @gordonrfriedman

The rules you need to know

You must be 21 or older to purchase recreational marijuana

You can posses 8 ounces of ready-to-smoke marijuana in your home or 1 ounce outside your home

You can buy up to one-quarter ounce per day

You can grow up to four plants inside your home, but out of public view

Using marijuana in public is still illegal

Don't use marijuana and drive

Find more info at www.whatslegaloregon.com

What you can buy

Dried marijuana that's ready to smoke (up to one-quarter ounce)

Live clones, or immature plants

Seeds

What you cannot buy until Oct. 2016

Extracts or concentrates

Tinctures

Edibles

Lotions or salves

Recreational marijuana taxes:

Oct. 1 through Jan. 4: No tax on recreational sales at dispensaries

Jan. 4 through Dec. 31: 25 percent tax on recreational sales at dispensaries

Jan. 1, 2017 and on: 17-20 percent tax at recreational-sales stores

Where do recreational-marijuana taxes go?