Report: Oregon Rec Sales Could Hit $300M

Oregon’s fledgling recreational cannabis industry could generate nearly $300 million in sales this year and $46 million in wages, a new study predicts.

The report, compiled by a Portland economist and a cannabis industry consultant, provides a peek at the potential of the state’s rec marijuana market, which launched last October and so far has created 2,156 retail-related cannabis jobs.

The projections focus on the sale of cannabis flower at the retail level. They do not include sales of edibles or extracts, which currently can be sold only for medical purposes (though that will change later this year).

The study also does not include medical marijuana sales.

The authors of the report, Beau Whitney of Whitney Economics and Sam Chapman of New Economy Consulting, said they based their projections on a January 2016 survey of cannabis retailers throughout Oregon.

Whitney – who is also an executive at a company that provides cannabis oils – and Chapman called their estimates conservative.

Still, their sales projection is much higher than the one in the 2016 Marijuana Business Factbook, which estimates that recreational sales will hit up to $220 million in Oregon this year.