Oregon agency to get first cannabis business representative

The state agency that regulates Oregon’s cannabis sector could have its first representative with experience in the marijuana industry.

According to Willamette Week, Gov. Kate Brown appointed Matt Maletis to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. His selection is contingent on Senate approval next month.

Here’s what you need to know about Maletis:

• Earlier this year he opened Oregon Hub, a five-acre cannabis campus designed for research and cultivation. Oregon Hub is home to, among other companies, Phylos Bioscience, a cannabis seed technology research firm founded by Mowgli Holmes.
• He has served on three cannabis advisory panels for the OLCC, which has regulated recreational marijuana in the state since 2014.
• His family has a decades-long history of alcohol distribution in Oregon.
• If approved, Maletis will replace longtime commission member Bob Rice.