OSGG meets with national, state, and local leaders to advocate on behalf of small family farmers who grow outdoor cannabis responsibly and sustainably. We are active in the Oregon legislative process as well as the ongoing Oregon Liquor Control Commission’s rulemaking effort. Our members meet directly with legislators, host state and federally elected leaders on our farms and offer expert testimony before legislative hearings. We will continue to grow and build relationships with decision makers to help them write better laws and rules for Oregon family farmers.
In 2015, we’ve focused our advocacy on protecting the OMMP, medical growers, and our patients. We were able to help ensure that the grower-patient relationship remains in tact. We helped increase the proposed legal amount of flower allowed for growers/patients/caregivers to possess, store, and transport from 1.5 lbs to 12 lbs per plant, thus no longer making criminals of many outdoor medical growers in southern Oregon. We helped protect the card system and patient record confidentiality, and were successful in keeping medical cannabis tax free. We sought and achieved provisions to allow medical growers to recoup all their costs, including for labor. We’ve led the successful effort to move the tax for recreational cannabis off of the grower and onto the point of sale. We supported 3rd party testing for labs with affordable statewide standards to protect growers and patients. Our efforts led to the creation of a pathway for medical growers to sell excess cannabis into the recreational market, though additional advocacy is needed to protect this pathway from onerous regulatory proposals that don’t make sense for rural farms. We were able to get language written into law so that OLCC considers the environmental impact of its packaging requirements. And we were successful in having many OSGG Board Members appointed to multiple positions on the Rules Advisory Committees for OLCC.
These efforts are ongoing and we anticipate a long term need to protect the interests of responsible SunGrown family farmers.
