Oregon ditches labor-friendly cannabis rule but will allow B2B samples at events

Oregon’s cannabis regulator, falling in line with a recent federal judge’s ruling, says it no longer will require businesses to secure agreements with labor unions to obtain state marijuana licenses.

State officials indicated they will not fight U.S. District Judge Michael Simon’s decision, but representatives from organized labor are confident an appeals court will reverse course, Portland TV station KOIN reported.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a Thursday statement that she “respects the court’s ruling” striking down the state’s labor peace agreement requirement.

And the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission announced that it “will no longer require a labor peace agreement (LPA) to apply for or renew a cannabis license.”

However, according to KOIN, organized labor will appeal the federal judge’s decision to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court, which is already due to hear an appeal of California’s LPA requirement, according to court records.

A spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 – which bankrolled Measure 119, the voter-approved November ballot initiative that imposed Oregon’s LPA requirement – told the TV station that “Judge Simon’s opinion, which flaunts Supreme Court precedent, will be … reversed.”

Meanwhile, under a bill Kotek signed into law Wednesday, Oregon cannabis businesses may now offer product samples to other marijuana licensees at special events.

According to Portland TV station KGW, Senate Bill 558 also allows state business licensees to distribute 1-gram-sized cannabis samples “to permitted workers.”

By law, however, the samples “cannot be provided to consumers” and are subject to track-and-trace requirements.