Oregon Pharmacy’s License Suspended Over MMJ

Just Released! Get realistic market forecasts, state-by-state insights and benchmarks with the new 2024 MJBiz Factbook member program, now with quarterly updates. Make informed decisions.


A small town pharmacy just north of Bend, Oregon, was shuttered last week after a state agency found that the business had manufactured cannabis products and sold them to customers without a doctor’s recommendation.

The move highlights the gray area that pharmacies and healthcare professionals run into when it comes to medical cannabis.

Tumalo Pharmacy produced cannabis-based liquids and capsules for an elderly patient suffering from Alzheimer’s, relabeled an MMJ product as a prescription and delivered them to the individual’s hospice, according to the Oregon Board of Pharmacy.

The pharmacy owner told the Bend Bulletin that the patient’s doctor had asked that a new label with dosing instructions be included so the hospice employees would know how to handle the medicine.

“We didn’t know there was anything wrong with that,” the owner told the paper. “No money was gained by us.”

The pharmacy will remained closed under emergency suspension until the state finishes its investigation and determines if disciplinary action is necessary.

The Oregon Board of Pharmacy also claims several additional possible violations of state law by Tumalo Pharmacy, including transferring patient prescriptions to other pharmacies without informing patients and selling other controlled substances without prescriptions.