| Dear ORCA members and Oregon’s cannabis community,
The ORCA team, industry thought-leaders, cannabis lawyers, and others have once again come together to draft a petition to the OLCC meant to promote safer consumer purchasing options for cannabis throughout the ongoing COVID-19 crisis – and we need your signatures!
This time, we’re proposing an increase in the purchase limits for home delivery orders – from one ounce up to two ounces of usable cannabis.
SIGN THE PETITION NOW!
There’s a compelling public safety argument for doing everything we can to encourage customers to reduce their number of visits to physical retail stores as much as possible, and we believe that incentivizing cannabis consumers to take advantage home delivery ordering options when possible will help do so.
Here’s the contents of the letter attached to our petition:
Dear Chair, Commissioners, and Executive Director of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission:
Thank you again for your tireless work on behalf of Oregonians. As a result of your efforts, marijuana businesses in Oregon have been able to remain open and operating throughout the COVID19 crisis, and public, safe access to marijuana for adults, caregivers, and patients has been maintained. We continue to be impressed not only with the Commission’s professional response, but also with your receptivity and openness to stakeholder concerns. You should be proud of the staff and operations of the agency.
As you are probably aware, retail licensees have seen an unprecedented increase in the volume of their delivery sales relative to in-person sales. Deliveries appear to create less opportunity for social contact, and thus increase the efficacy of Governor Brown’s social distancing order. Moreover, if the frequency of delivery orders could be decreased, that would in turn reduce the amount of contact between delivery personnel and customers, and thus improve public health and safety outcomes.
We believe there is a safe and effective way to decrease the number of deliveries while still maintaining safe access, and which also complies with all applicable statutory provisions. In a nutshell, we believe the Commission should consider increasing the quantities of cannabis and cannabis products available for purchase via home delivery.
This would be permitted under Oregon law; for example, while ORS 475B.337 only allows possession of one ounce of usable marijuana in a public place, it also allows possession of less than eight ounces of usable marijuana in a non-public place, such as one’s home. The latter limit would apply to home deliveries, and thus home delivery of, for example, two ounces of usable marijuana by a retail licensee, would be lawful, if the current rules were changed to accommodate it.
Because temporary rule changes to allow larger delivery quantities would be both lawful and would promote the goals of Governor Brown’s social distancing order, we humbly suggest that the Commission consider evaluating and adopting such temporary rule changes. Again, thank you for your service in this difficult time, and for your consideration of the foregoing.
Respectfully,
Andrew C. DeWeese
Attorney, Green Light Law Group
4531 SE Belmont St.,Suite 207 Portland, OR 97215
Office: 503.488.5424 Direct: 971.270.4497 [email protected]
Casey Houlihan
Executive Director,
Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association
PO Box 42516 Portland, OR 97202
541-632-4442 [email protected] |
