Marijuana businesses push back on Oregon's testing rules, ask for delay

The newly developing regulations in Oregon's recreational marijuana industry have caused problems for many of the state's concentrate, extract, and edible manufacturers as they're having trouble getting their products properly tested before being ready to sell. Of the 18 accredited testing labs in Oregon, only 4 are able to test for pesticides which is a requirement in the cannabis industry. Several businesses allover the state fear they will have to lay off employees or close their doors permanently due to not being able test and sell the available inventory. The edibles company, Lunchbox Alchemy, was forced to stop production of products now that they have 600,000 cannabis candies awaiting testing, but no connections to a lab. The few labs still able to test using the new regulations have driven up prices and lack availability for the competitive industry. What would normally cost $125 can now cost some retailers thousands of dollars.

"There is a fundamental failure going on here," said attorney Amy Margolis, executive director of the Oregon Cannabis Association, a trade group. "I am getting countdown clocks from clients saying, 'This is how many days I have until I have to shut down.'"

"This is not a joke," he said. "We followed all of their rules. If you follow their rules, you cannot succeed. I don't think I am going to make it out of this."

"What would have cost $125 is now into the thousands," he said.