Error Could Force Oregon to Revoke Hemp Licenses

Oregon may revoke all 13 licenses it issued to hemp growers earlier this year after officials said they made an error by neglecting to obtain GPS locations when determining who would win permits.

Outdoor marijuana growers have complained that hemp fields near their production facilities could potentially bring down THC levels in their cannabis, rendering it far less valuable, according to the Register-Guard newspaper. The Oregon Department of Agriculture issued licenses to hemp growers earlier this year without gathering GPS data on where fields would be located and how big each farm would be, in violation of its own rules.

Amendments proposed this week would revoke all 13 licenses and instead allow six research permits to be issued for hemp fields that could be no closer than five miles from a marijuana cultivation site. They would also ban any new hemp licenses until the end of 2017.