The Oregon Department of Agriculture has identified 250 pesticides that marijuana producers may use to combat pests, mold and other problems common in the industry.
The pesticides on Oregon's list pose minimal risk to human health, according to the federal government, which sets pesticide policy nationally. Most pesticides approved for use in organic agriculture, for instance, would be allowed. Pesticides must list broad agricultural uses on their labels to be included on the state's list.
The agency's assistant director, Lauren Henderson, briefed Oregon lawmakers Monday about the state's new policy on pesticide use in cannabis. The issue is a major one for the industry, which has relied on pesticides to deal with mites and other problems that can render a crop worthless.
The Oregon Health Authority also issued rules that require all marijuana undergo pesticide screening by accredited labs. Henderson said the pesticide list will be posted to the department's website in January. He said a cannabis coordinator, Sunny Jones, also has been hired to serve as a resource for marijuana producers.
The Joint Interim Committee on Marijuana Legalization was briefed on a wide range of issues Monday. Among them:
Allowing retailers to sell medical and recreational cannabis at the same location: Under Oregon Liquor Control Commission rules, marijuana shops must choose whether they want to sell to the medical or recreational markets. The liquor commission won't license a dispensary to sell recreational cannabis, though industry representatives have pushed for more overlap between the medical and recreational programs, said agency executive director Steven Marks.
Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, on Monday pressed OLCC officials for specific reasons why a shared location can't work. He pointed out that recreational sales are currently taking place under the state's early sales program without complaints.
"I want a list of the obstacles that you perceive so we can demolish them in the 2016 legislative session," said Ferrioli.
Rob Patridge, chairman of the liquor commission, said his agency worked on this issue during this year's legislative session without success. Liquor commission officials have repeatedly said they are concerned about mingling the two markets because the agency has oversight only over the recreational market.
Tracking medical marijuana: While the liquor commission plans to closely track marijuana, the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees medical marijuana, does not have that same authority.
Priscilla Lewis, deputy director of the public health division of the health authority, said the lack of a tracking system for medical marijuana poses a problem.
"There are opportunities for dirty product to come back into a system that doesn't have seed to sale and also for diversion" to the black market," she said. "Seed to sale is a much tighter system and we recognize that our ability to build a comparable system is very challenging."
Lewis said the health authority wants production disconnected from the number of patients a grower serves. The number of plants allowed at an address is based on the number of patients listing that location as their grow site. She said the state has about 11,000 people registered to grow medical cannabis.
"It's a challenge to maintain a robust and transparent system with that large number of growers," she said.
Shannon O'Fallon, a lawyer for the Oregon Department of Justice who serves as legal counsel to the health authority, suggested one possibility: Allow people to grow for up to two patients and have growers who want to produce more join together to register a grow site. The size of those larger sites, which would be able to sell to regulated medical and retail markets, could be determined by the Oregon Legislature.
'You would be able to maintain, on a small level, the patient grower relationship, but if you are doing it on a grander scale, then the plants at those grow sites would not be owned by a patient anymore they would belong to the grower," she said.
Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, was skeptical of the proposal, saying it could limit patient access to marijuana.
"It seems like we are trying to fix something that I am not sure is a problem," he said.
Edible serving sizes: The health authority has established serving sizes for edible products on the medical and recreational markets. For recreational cannabis, the serving size of an edible product that can be scored, like a chocolate bar, can have 5 milligrams of THC. The entire package can have up to 50 milligrams of THC. If the product can't be scored, such as a drink or ice cream, the item can have up to 5 milligrams of THC. The whole product is capped at 10 milligrams.
On the medical side, a package of edible products can't have more than 100 milligrams of THC.
Lewis said Oregon's serving sizes are half of what's allowed in Colorado and Washington. Lewis said the limits reflect a "cautious approach" rooted in concerns about children accidentally eating infused products that look like conventional ones.
"Ten milligrams (of THC) for a 2-year-old child is a lot," said Lewis.
Medical marijuana snapshot: The number of people applying for Oregon medical marijuana patient cards has swelled to 73,627 from September 2014 through August 2015 - 14 percent more than the previous 12 months. The agency received more applications for patient cards in the past year than at any time since voters approved the program in 1998.
Criminal background checks: The liquor commission asked lawmakers to expand the list of offenses that could disqualify people applying for marijuana handler permits. Counter staff, known as budtenders, will have to apply for these permits.
The law allows the state to turn down applicants who have felony convictions, but officials want to add delivery and possession of controlled substance and the possession and furnishing of alcohol to minors as possible grounds for disqualification.
-- Noelle Crombie
503-276-7184; @noellecrombie