OREGON, July 28, 2023 – The Cannabis Industry Association of Oregon (CIAO), Southern Oregon Family Farms, and Cannassentials farm today filed an emergency motion to the Oregon Court of Appeals to halt enforcement of the Oregon Health Authority’s (OHA) new Aspergillus testing regulations which are causing critical harm to the state’s cannabis industry and exceed the OHA’s statutory authority as there are less restrictive Aspergillus testing alternatives.
The current testing requirements are inconsistent, confusing, and exorbitantly costly, leading to disastrous financial consequences for cannabis businesses across Oregon. The industry, unique and invaluable to Oregon’s culture and economy, is being pushed to the brink of financial collapse by these regulations. This situation calls for urgent intervention to ensure survival of this thriving industry.
Today, we are calling for an emergency suspension of qPCR compliance testing and METRC reporting for Aspergillus. A pause would afford the industry the crucial opportunity to rectify existing testing inconsistencies and deficiencies, formulate new rules aligned with scientific evidence ensuring regulations are not excessively restrictive, while protecting public safety. This motion will not affect current testing requirements for water activity, mycotoxins, heavy metals, or pesticides.
Several factors underline the need for this urgent pause:
1. Scientific Uncertainty: No clear link has been established between the consumption of cannabis products and Aspergillus-related health issues, warranting further research before enforcement of costly and overly restrictive rules.
2. Prevalence of Aspergillus: Aspergillus, especially A. fumigatus & A. flavus are environmentally ubiquitous fungi that Oregonians inhale every day. The strict pass/fail criterion is leading to random and economically damaging failures for cultivators and requires cannabis to conform to standards that no other agricultural product on the market is currently required to comply with.
3. Legitimacy of Testing: Growing national skepticism around the effectiveness of Aspergillus testing calls for a comprehensive reevaluation of the rule’s validity, its economic impacts on the industry, and whether there is any appreciable benefit to consumers.
4. Inconsistency in Testing: Significant inconsistencies in testing results and a stringent rule permitting only a single remediation attempt have added to the financial burden on cannabis businesses.
5. Financial Impact: The current rules disregard additional costs for compliance, threatening to bankrupt cannabis businesses due to factors including – loss of product, increased number of compliance tests, disincentive of composite testing, post-testing remediation, and facilities upgrades.
We urge the OHA and OLCC to work with the industry to create evidence-based, economically viable testing reforms that uphold consumer safety and the prosperity of Oregon’s cannabis industry.
