Oregon marijuana regulators ease rules ahead of deadline

Oregon marijuana regulators on Friday announced temporary rules that will make it easier for MJ companies to comply with new rules governing testing, packaging and labeling of recreational and medical cannabis products.

Stricter rules were set to kick in on Saturday, Oct. 1. But delays in the state’s processing of regulatory applications had threatened to throw the market into turmoil, cannabis industry insiders had warned. The delays raised the prospect that retailers would be forced to remove unapproved products from their shelves, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Under the stricter rules, MJ businesses had to get their new labels and packaging approved by regulators. The rules required warnings on packages as well as a symbol designating that the product contained marijuana.

But regulators took steps to ease that requirement.

“If licensees do not have pre-approved packaging and labels, they may use generic packaging and labeling until their packages and labels are approved by the OLCC,” the Oregon Liquor Control Commission said in a news release Friday.

The agency also said it “will allow a smaller number of batches in each harvest lot to be tested, as opposed to all batches in the lot.”