After a year of public forums and hours of rule-making, Oregon on Monday opened its application process to anyone interested in entering the country's newest regulated marijuana market.
The license paperwork appeared online at 6 a.m. By noon, 70 people had slogged through the application, which asked for everything from security plans to electrical and water use information. The agency said it had received 36 applications from producers, 18 for retail locations, eight for processors and eight for wholesalers.
Unlike Washington, where the state capped how many licenses it issued to growers and retailers, Oregon has no limits. A report prepared by the liquor commission estimates the state will issue a total of 850 recreational marijuana licenses by the end of 2017.
Steve Marks, executive director of the liquor control commission, said the agency will prioritize applications, reviewing those for outdoor production facilities and laboratories first.
The state wants to sign off on licenses for outdoor production so growers can get the crop in the ground in time to have products ready for the retail market later this year. Marijuana sold in recreational marijuana establishments, as well as medical dispensaries, must undergo testing for potency and pesticides, thus liquor control officials plan to prioritize lab applications as well.
The agency initially planned to staff a call center with policy advisors to answer questions from applicants as they went through the process Monday. However, the weather-related closure of state offices in Portland complicated that. The agency plans to open the center on Tuesday provided weather conditions improve.
Amy Margolis, a lawyer with Emerge Law Group, which represents cannabis businesses, said she expects her firm to file about 30 applications by the end of the week.
She said the forms are time-intensive and somewhat inefficient, but the system appears to be working. Her firm fielded calls throughout the day, she said, from clients struggling with the forms and their request for a blizzard of detailed information.
"My hope is that as we submit more of these, that familiarity will breed some contentment with this process," she said.
Though the state agency will review applications as they come in, Marks said regulators aren't likely to approve any until after the Oregon Legislature meets next month. Lawmakers are expected to take up some marijuana-related issues that may impact the licensing process, such as requirements related to out-of-state investments.
Marks said the agency also expects to receive a lot of requests to waive certain requirements, particularly those related to security in outdoor grow sites, where locations may be out of the way and already shielded from view. He said reviewing and authorizing waivers will add to the time it takes to process each application.
While the Oregon Health Authority oversees medical marijuana, including dispensaries that for now may sell to recreational consumers, the recreational marijuana industry will shift entirely to the liquor commission by year's end.
The commission will employ 33 people, including 11 inspectors, to oversee recreational pot.
The agency plans to spend $92,000 a year in subscription fees for the online application system, which did not seem to experience any major glitches on its first day. It spent another $1.8 million on a system that will track cannabis from seed to sale.
Growers and others required to use the system will be trained starting next month, Marks said.
Meanwhile, applicants hunkered down Monday to complete the forms.
Case Van Dorne and Joel Jennings, both longtime cannabis growers who own Five Zero Trees, with locations in Southeast and Southwest Portland, checked into the downtown Hilton early Monday to work on their applications. They plan to apply for licenses to grow, process and sell recreational cannabis.
With ESPN on in the background, Jennings documented the electrical appliances and lighting they plan to use and a breakdown of their expected kilowatt. Van Dorne, meanwhile, separated the rest of the application into parts, stacking them into neat labeled piles spread out on a bed.
Jennings and Van Dorne spent the past month gathering everything they need for the applications. They've collected documents related to water rights, site plan development and security.
The pair left their busy shops to their employees to manage for three days so they can focus on getting the forms to the state his week.
"We don't need anyone disturbing us," said Jennings. "This is the most important thing in our lives right now. We have been thinking about this day for a year and a half."
-- Noelle Crombie
503-276-7184; @noellecrombie