What’s Oregon Gonna Do With All That Weed?

A local band, the Camo Cowboys, have a song that asks “What You Gonna Do With All That Weed?”

Oregon is facing the question, too. An article today about Oregon’s overproduction of cannabis in The Guardian asks, “How do you move mountains of unwanted weed?”

According to the article,

In February, state officials announced that 1.1m pounds of cannabis flower were logged in the state’s database.

If a million pounds sounds like a lot of pot, that’s because it is: last year, Oregonians smoked, vaped or otherwise consumed just under 340,000lb of legal bud.

That means Oregon farmers have grown three times what their clientele can smoke in a year…

Yet state documents show the number of Oregon weed farmers is poised to double this summer – without much regard to whether there’s demand to fill.

The result? Prices are dropping to unprecedented lows in auction houses and on dispensary counters across the state.

Of course, as Oregon cannabis farmers are facing dropping prices, many of them are struggling to stay in business. One farmer talked of sending his flowers to the auction block expecting to get around $400 a pound–Instead, he received $100 per pound.

Marijuana Buds and flower

Unmanicured cannabis and a pink flower. [Photo by Kym Kemp

Small dispensaries, too, are staggering under the falling prices. The diverse marketplace is being captured by a few businesses with deep pockets, argues one of the sources quoted.

The Guardian’s piece states,

Ask someone in the cannabis industry what to do about Oregon’s weed surplus, and you’re likely to get one of three answers.

The first is to cap the number of licenses awarded by the OLCC. The second is to reduce the canopy size allotted to each license – Massachusetts is trying that. And the last, equally common answer is to simply do nothing. Let the market sort itself out.

Until the market sorts this out, Oregon along with California is likely to be singing along with the Camo Cowboys, “Where are you going to sell all that weed?”

Read the whole article by clicking here.

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Lone ranger
Guest
Lone ranger
5 years ago

Reggae on the Rogue

Cash Johnson
Guest
Cash Johnson
5 years ago

Thank you Kym, always appreciate your support.

local yocal
Guest
local yocal
5 years ago

This is exactly I have been saying the economic outlook for small Cannabis farmers in California is horrible.The state needs to Cap the number of permits now ,Also limit Canopy size.whos gonna buy all our Legal weed?

Divide by Zero
Guest
Divide by Zero
5 years ago

Keep rearranging those deck chairs. Five years from now cartels will own the industry. A fool and his money.

Victor G. Flashman
Guest
Victor G. Flashman
5 years ago
Reply to  Divide by Zero

What will they do with all that weed? What will you do with yours?

Who cares?

Weed is good for nothing, and it should cost about the same.

When I see good bud at the farmers market for $10/lb, I will think it is a good price.

Still won’t buy any…

gus
Guest
gus
5 years ago

100 dollars a pound is reasonable . You have to consider it is legal now and it is something you can grown in your back yard or bedroom like growing roses, you can argue all you want about quality but the main reason that prices were high was because of having to buy off from a black market. If Beer was to be prohibited one could brew it at home and sell it for quite a profit. There is no reason to artificiality keep the prices high except to make taxes high and the partnership with the state to put more money in there pocket ( just like the alcohol tax)

Terry L. Clark
Guest
5 years ago

They could donate it to people who can’t afford toxic drugs for their pain, PTSD, glaucoma, and a large variety of other maladies.

Oh wait–that would p*** off the Pharmaceutical Drug Cartel.

Nevermind…

Nancy Harmeyer
Guest
Nancy Harmeyer
5 years ago
Reply to  Terry L. Clark

They are definitely the SCARIEST of all Cartels!

Cove broseph
Guest
Cove broseph
5 years ago
Reply to  Terry L. Clark

Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is and spend tens of thousands of dollars producing a crop and give it away for free . This example includes food

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
5 years ago
Reply to  Terry L. Clark

OK, I’ll give you partial credit. Howzat for an olive branch? I’m sure some is donated, just like some growers have donated to local community projects over the years but you can’t get a blurb in the news ’cause you’re illegal!

Bc
Guest
Bc
5 years ago

Donations still require someone to pay the taxes…..

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Terry L. Clark

Certainly a drug in search of an illness. Or at least an excuse.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  Terry L. Clark

Not sure about OR, but in CA, if you donate, you pay taxes on it.

Sam
Guest
Sam
5 years ago

So what the same is true for you hypocrites in California where does all Humboldt weed go
Isn’t that what you want anyway saturate to the point of ridiculousness

Hmmmmm!
Guest
Hmmmmm!
5 years ago
Reply to  Sam

What?

JD
Guest
JD
5 years ago

What I found interesting is they are looking for national legalization to remove the over supply. Well, don’t hold your breath. But doesn’t California produce 10 times the amount we consume according to estimates? If people think Oregon has it bad, just wait.

Matthew Meyer
Guest
Matthew Meyer
5 years ago
Reply to  JD

According to the state Food and Ag Dept, CA produced 13.5 million lbs. in 2016 and consumed 2.5 million lbs. That means that more than 80% of the state’s harvest went elsewhere.

There isn’t any acceptable solution to this situation except interstate commerce.

Scarlet Fire
Guest
Scarlet Fire
5 years ago
Reply to  Matthew Meyer

That is no solution! The federal allowance of interstate commerce will only hasten the corporate takeover. It will feel good for a quick minute with terrible permanent results. I wish stupid hippies would start thinking about the results! This allowance of interstate commerce- federal legalization- will open up the weed business to trade treaties and we will have to allow foreign production to enter the US. Canadian, Chinese, Mexican and Colombian production will bury everybody. It’s the logical conclusion. Stop with your stupid fantasies about “niche markets” and “branding”. It will happen. The best we can hope for is it happens slowly, slower not faster. The huge corporate death machine is already lining up behind the weed industry. Soon weed smokers will be paying federal taxes that go to build more bombs and drones. The sheeple will fail to see the irony and their own complicity.

questioning
Guest
questioning
5 years ago

Don’t people move it out of state into places where it’s still illegal? Surely then they’d get a better price and get rid of some of the surplus.

fuckwalterwhite.com
Guest
fuckwalterwhite.com
5 years ago
Reply to  questioning

Those guys sren’t complaining to reporters

Me
Guest
Me
5 years ago

I work in a retail environment that sells, among other items, items that will help growers get electrical power to set up lights, fans, pumps, etc. Based on recent activity, there are a lot of newbies trying to grow. Either they are setting up too late to make the big bucks, OR they know something the rest of us don’t.

Cove broseph
Guest
Cove broseph
5 years ago
Reply to  Me

They are going to fail

Chaka brah
Guest
Chaka brah
5 years ago

My doper neighbors have to shop at winco with the rest of us, no more wildberries for you ! Haha! They’re still blowing their savings on fancy vacations but the bank of weed is running dry. Oh my, they might even have to get real taxpaying jobs soon. It’s awesome to look at their sad puppy faces. They spent all these years thinking they were better than honest working people.

😂
Guest
😂
5 years ago
Reply to  Chaka brah

Are you a fortune teller? A bad one at that.. My grower neighbors never treated me as less than. Get you head out your ***!

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  😂

That attitude is evident in the comments here. It’s in every “[edit] -you” post that appears. In fact in every denial of negativity that surrounds pot users like a cloud of their own stink.

😂
Guest
😂
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Never said there was no negative aspect to pot. Maybe you missed that past your limited, biased, negative thinking?

There’s negative aspects to many things in life. The car or truck you drive, contributes to a huge negative aspect around the entire world. The sodas you drink have a huge negative aspect on you belly but you continue to slurp down it’s sweet slow death. The computer or cell phone, you type your judgements thru, have negative aspects on the lives of adults & children, who are paid next to nothing, and kept like slaves manufacturing these gadgets, all for your communication convenience. You wanna speak bout denial? I guarantee you use all 3 & are in complete denial of the negative aspects YOU, yourself also project everyday.

Just pointing out the cultural judgement, that sums up & judges an entire group of folks you never met, against your own standards. That’s what really stinks in this thread.

Its called
Ethnocentrism.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  😂

You’d be wrong on all counts. I consider what I do and effects others constantly. Yet the comments here in defence of everything pot are fully to overflowing with self centered, blame the other guy rants. And that one big f-you of blaming the other guy that’s represents what’s wrong with so many pot users and growers. It’s not all about you. It’s not even half about you.

And you’re delusional if you really believe putting a buzz word label on another person is anything but a smug loser looking for self justification. Imagine if a pot user said and meant it, “I know my use of pot 1) literally stinks or 2) strongly increases the likelihood of me being a dangerous driver or 3) can lead to not resolving personal problems for others, possibly for myself, 4) is frequently grown in destructive ways and here’s what I intend to do about it.”

Why if that happened, the complaints about pot from others might disappear by without the nasty super defensive insults so common now. Because, while I might not share your love of the unreality that pot use creates, I would not bother if it did not do intrude it’s ugliness into my world. It would be like baseball card collecting in adults or other human choices for entertainment- not something for me but not my business if someone else indulges.

😂
Guest
😂
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Like you comment intrudes its biased ugliness into this blog, looking for some justification ?

Aware of your effects huh? So do you not drive then? Do you not drink sodas? Do you not use computers or cell phones? You seem only conviently aware when your speaking. If you really cared. you’d not be continuously answering back on a computer or cell or, drive you car or drink sodas. My point is, your not far off in comparison from those you group up as One type & hate, otherwise you’d not participate in actions everyday that affect others too. You can take a crap & say it smells like flowers all you want but we all know what it really smells like.

Ethnocentrism is not a Buzz word label, but the exact definition of your comment. Look it up sometime Silvia Brown.

Also:
1)Pot does stink, so I smoke outside and away from others that don’t smoke, like you & children. Plus I vape when I can, to lower the stink.

2)I never smoke and drive. I can’t speak for others on that but then again neither can I speak for the drunk drivers out their either.

3)I only recall problems in my life when I took prescription pills the doctor pushed. With herb, no multiple costly pills but clarity & extra $ in my pocket. Now that’s a piece of mind!

4)I’d report my neighbor if they were not in compliance & ruining our watershed etc. No problem with that. Its horrible what grows, like the April 30th bust is doing to our home. Crap like that has gotz to go.

Hum imagine that?

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  😂

My neighbor 150 feet away smokes and the stink is so bad that I have to keep my windows shut when the wind’s from that direction. How long does the impairment last? For having watched another neighbor drive making idiot decisions constantly, now I don’t think he was ever really sober. At least until the doctor told him it was stop smoking pot or die. That is when it became apparent his native, unimpared intelligence was reasonably normal. Quite a surprise. Took a couple of months for the improvement to become obvious.

As to introducing what you call ugliness into the comments- good. A little reality might just creep through the pot miasma into some brains. Probably wasted hope but optimism persists in the absence of a practical alternative.

😂
Guest
😂
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Stop smoking pot or die! OMG I’m dying over here, from the laughter at your thought process. Oh must be my clouded thinking, my bad!

No need to further discuss here. Your tiny statement speaks a thousand words, of your small minded gullible, misinformed arrogance.

😂Funniest thing I’ve ever heard. As good as Reefer Madness The Movie! I’m so embarrassed for you, go on with yourself and keep sharing that view all you want. 😂

Canyon oak
Guest
Canyon oak
5 years ago
Reply to  😂

People are supposed to be ethnocentric. If one does not see the world through the lense of their own culture & tradition, then they have not been properly socialized. What we see in some modern social trends is people acting against their own ancestry and tradition.. every new generation a big “F U” to the previous one.
In some people’s fear over realities like bigotry, prejudice & biase, they have forgotten that one of the fundamental survival strategies of bieng human is to be cultural, and to call upon your own unique ancient lineage for guidance, and to participate as well on some level in contemporary customs.
Ethnocentrism is not bad. What’s bad is bieng cultureless, as in cultural relativity. It’s nice to be open minded, but we didn’t get here on the west coast of America by bieng nice..

JC
Guest
JC
5 years ago
Reply to  Chaka brah

chaka brah…..You sound like all the [edit] out there looking at what’s on others plates and trying to take it. What’s not honest about a plant made illegal on lies. The lies you all believe. The sky is falling……

😂
Guest
😂
5 years ago
Reply to  JC

It’s falling I tell ya!

Ezra Morgan Hill
Guest
Ezra Morgan Hill
5 years ago

Use it as fertilizer to grow more weed?

$100 a pound is still too much money, the real wholesale price should be around $8 a pound and retailing for about $18.50 a pound.

It’s going to come down in price even more.

Seamus
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Seamus
5 years ago

It always needs to be manicured, even at minimum wage you still need to spend $30 a pound at the very least.

Local
Guest
Local
5 years ago

Um you know cigarettes could be a lot less but they aren’t. That’s because if the tabacco companies couldn’t make gigantic profits since everyone would buy 100 cartons for nothing then not need any for a year. Instead they’re 5 bucks for a days supply or whatever I’ve never smoked but you get the point. EVERYTHING is like that no matter what you’re buying. Gas is another example…..weed will never go that low.

Btw those nugs look like trash that’s prolly why they’re sitting on all they’re shit lol

rudolph's mom
Guest
rudolph's mom
5 years ago
Reply to  Local

Sure, the tobacco companies have their price gouging tactics (and a lot of that is tax), but do you think tobacco farmers are rolling in the bucks? That’s already happening with pot. Dispensaries are paying shit and making 400% markup. Welcome to the brave new world.

That sauce
Guest
That sauce
5 years ago

8 dollars a lb? Plz homie, that is never gonna happen. I’ve heard some people try to compare it to growing flowers, but it’s nothing like growing flowers. Growing even half decent bud takes money and time. Have you ever heard the saying “you only get out what you put in”? It is totally true for Cannabis. I’d love to see a lb that it cost someone 8 dollars to grow.

Stop and smell the roses
Guest
Stop and smell the roses
5 years ago
Reply to  That sauce

As someone in the floral industry who also has pot growing knowledge, I can tell you many flowers are much, much more difficult to grow. Pot’s not called “weed” for no reason. If you plant a Shasta Daisy or Foxglove or Canterbury Bells seed, you’re looking at a germ time of a month or more, 6 weeks to 2 months until you can transplant that seedling into a tiny pot. Then it’s good 8 months to 2 years (!) until you see a bloom. Good old Northern Lights could be cut and sold many, many times over in that time frame. And don’t get me started on pests and diseases, trust me, pot is a cake walk to grow.

People are trying to convince themselves pot growing is hard and requires fancy gadgets and bottled nutrients to justify their black market inflated incomes. It was not the farming skills that brought the high prices, it was the illegal drug dealing. Soon cannabis growers will be like other specality growers here; it’s a lifestyle of hard work for little money, but it allows you to stay in a rural environment and work the land. If you’re not here for that, just find another way before you lose everything. Goat milk will be way more valuable. Time for us all to get real and explore other agricultural options. How many cycles of boom and bust need to happen in this county before people can see it coming?

Cowabunga
Guest
Cowabunga
5 years ago

Should level off at about $750/bale, depending on a number of factors.

fuckwalterwhite.com
Guest
fuckwalterwhite.com
5 years ago

They will have to start creating addicts early,more advertising to kids,the more they sell,the more they can tax

Bozo
Guest
Bozo
5 years ago

>” Either they are setting up too late to make the big bucks…”

Yup.

Chatty Cathy
Guest
Chatty Cathy
5 years ago

Just give it away. Grow it for fun, for yourself. The glory days of $4000lbs are far behind us.
If your planning a future in weed you have no future.

Always Local
Guest
Always Local
5 years ago
Reply to  Chatty Cathy

There still getting over $4k a Ln at the dispensary’s so the glory days are over? Just for the people doing the work! Now the greedy government and dispensary owners are reaping the profits. I know one owner that operates in Santa Rosa that’s making over 10k a week in profit off the backs of us the growers. Keep it on the black market boys that will stifle the government market. If you didnt see the article about the county’s regulation costs compared to the money there bringing in is funny. You should read it. I wonder if they account for the lost sales tax from the growers not buying anymore?? The cash has switched hands and now the local buying is over!!

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Always Local

Now you begin to sound like a real farmer.

Druthers.
Guest
Druthers.
5 years ago

It’s really stupid to complain about low weed prices. That’s what we, the people, want. What’s jacked is the regulations around growing, possessing etc. that make sure not everybody can grow and sell it, and guarantee street prices stay ridiculously high despite low wholesale. Another pay to play scam, compliments of our own govt.

R -DOG
Guest
R -DOG
5 years ago

What makes all this weed unwanted is it the quality or is it just way to much of the product i know when i was smokeing weed none of us wanted to smoke that Mexican dirt weed i mean Humboldt shake was better than that dirt weed then thar was that deisal weed going around people used to dig it out of the pile that camp pored deisal on an burned it that stuff was bad any way im just going to grow soom real good stuff not mass quantity but enough to have no problem geting rid of at least i will make some thing and calf. Alone grew over 13 million lbs so Oregon not growing hardly nothen compared to calf.

Obvious
Guest
Obvious
5 years ago

Ca. Regulations make it more profitable to ship product north for sale, rather than go through the chaos of red tape to sell locally.
Oregons flood is Californias loss.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Obvious

The reason for Oregon’s laws keeping their trade intrastate, like California’s, it that once there is interstate traffic, the Federal government controls. The State loses total authority under the Constitution.

PickelBarrelBandit
Guest
PickelBarrelBandit
5 years ago

What to do with spindly oregon swag?
Send it to mexico! They got dirt weed down there and the spindly shit from oregon nobody wants in cali so send it further south. Suck it oregon!

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago

California is on track to be in the same boat.

Heathen Savage
Guest
5 years ago

Who wants to know where the primo goes? 40 yrs. ago i worked some patches on the Hoopa Rez. it was the best Purple Kush on the planet and it was delivered to Eureka with little hassle(when CAMP was a jobs program). And now in Southern Oregon the finest smoke is still in demand. Old connections still exist although the price is less for sure. It seems those ahead of the present reality will survive(I am 75). personally I see Northern Cal and Southern Oregon as one community when it comes to dedication to growing the sacred weed. That is why i would live nowhere else, its been a blast.

Anon Forrest
Guest
5 years ago

The “Writing” has been on the wall about this for at least 5 years… I feel sorry for those who didn’t read it or heed it, BUT reality is stubborn and eventually wins. I’ve made a living (barely) with eggs, Koi, snow peas, mending, and childcare since reading the wall, myself.
It’s hard, but possible…and I can stay here in Paradise. Coming on my 50th anniversary next year. And not a single one has been “easy.” Stay the Course! This is about MUCH more than pot.

Soon-to-be Former Supervisor Ryan Dumberg
Guest
Soon-to-be Former Supervisor Ryan Dumberg
5 years ago

I hate to say it, but this reminds me of certain Midwestern/Rust Belt conversations I’ve heard with overprivileged & mostly undereducated White folks who were on easy street for decades, then eventually had to deal with the reality of a capitalist economy. If you didn’t save up some of those large stacks of untaxed cash for a rainy day, then that’s on you… And PLEASE don’t do what so many Midwesterners have done in recent years – become all racist & shit about it.

William
Guest
William
5 years ago

Moved here in 95′ from the mid west. i remember getting 4000 a pound after the first season. Started buying properties and at one time had over 1000 acres and 10 rental houses. I continued to keep my head down working and running several small businesses as well as farming. I drove an old truck, lived in a modest home and grew lots of fruits and veggies. Never drank, no drugs or smoking. After y2k I started buying rental houses in up and coming cities around the country, I thought that’s what everyone did. It sure did pay off the checks come in every month and I can spend more time with the folks and the kids. It’s been a great run but I’m happy to pass the torch to the next Entrepeneurs. I’m ready to start the another chapter of my life. Work hard be smart always save and invest. That’s the secret to my success.
-William

Farmer Jon
Guest
Farmer Jon
5 years ago

Can we please stop calling pot growers farmers?? Pleeeeease. It’s an insult to all of us actual farmers who work our tails off to bring food to people while barely making a living. If I drank a six pack of beer between every chore on my farm, I’d think I was working hard too. (I know I just lumped everyone that grows into one category, but it is the most common ‘hill story’ I’ve heard over many years).
To me, the right to grow for personal use is the main thing we should care about preserving. As the corporates take over, our legal right is certain to be challenged. And our government for hire will be likely to oblige.
As for all the extra weed in these states, heck yeah donation. Taxed on donations?? Haha. Funny. I get tax breaks for donating food. Obviously it may be different for a drug but I’m not buying it yet. Besides loop holes are made for jumping.