The state online application system in Oregon has finally opened for those who want to get marijuana licenses.
The license paperwork appeared online at 6 a.m. on Jan. 4, 2016 and instantly there were 70 people who had signed the application by noon. The assigned agency reported that 36 applications came from producers, 18 from retail locations, 8 from processors and 8 from wholesalers.
According to the Mountain Times, the approved regulations for availing marijuana only apply to unincorporated areas of the country and do not include personal growing and production. The state law for this medicinal pot has taken effect on Monday, Jan. 4, for recreational marijuana and on Tuesday, March 1, for medicial marijuana.
Oregon Healthy Authority currently oversees transactions and processes for marijuana production but reportedly, the agency will focus soon on the medical marijuana and by year's end, the recreational marijuana industry will completely shift to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, Oregon Live reports.
As it is, the commission is said to be employing 33 people, including 11 inspectors, to oversee recreational pot. The agency has also prepared the budgeting for necessary expenditures. Reportedly, a total of $92,000 a year in subscription fees for the online application system has been spent and fortunately, the system seem to have worked well for all its worth. The agency also has spent another $1.8 million on a system bound to track cannabis production from seed to sale.
Monday's launch of the online application system is a big success for the marijuana program. The commission has spent the whole of 2015 laying the groundwork of the industry, creating public forums and finally concluding regulations. For this year the liquor commission plans to prioritize applications by cannabis producers first in order to get the crops ready, so that by 2017, the products can start rolling in the market.
To this, the liquor commission is ready to accommodate businesses who are interested in investing in the cannabis industry. What with the decriminalization of marijuana use, hundreds are expected to apply for licenses to grow, process, and sell in Oregon, even including other states.