BLACK MARKET POT WORRIES

PORTLAND, ORE.» Before Matthew Miller harvests marijuana this fall from his fields in southern Oregon, he’ll have to notify the state for the first time ever — a process that could bring inspectors to make sure none of his pot is being illegally diverted.

The new harvest notification policy, which took effect earlier this month, is the first of its kind among states that have legalized marijuana and is intended to ensure legally grown Oregon weed isn’t being transported out of state.

It’s part of a raft of new measures to appease federal officials who have publicly railed against what they call Oregon’s “relaxed” regulatory environment and inadequate oversight.

Oregon has an excellent potgrowing climate, and its rules allow applicants to have multiple licenses, permit outofstate investment, and don’t cap grower licenses — generous policies that have resulted in an oversupply of legal weed, with growers desperate to unload crops now worth half of what they were.

In this environment, the harvest notification rule has riled many cannabis cultivators who say it amounts to more bureaucracy in an industry already struggling to stay afloat.

“They don’t do this to any other agricultural crop in the world,” said Miller, of Millerville Farms. “All it does is it makes our margin go less and less — and we’re already doing just about everything at cost.”

Oregon’s adultuse market has struggled for months with too much marijuana. As of June, there were nearly 1 million pounds of “usable flower” in the system, and an additional 350,000 pounds of marijuana extracts, edibles and tinctures. Usable flower refers to the dried marijuana flower — or bud — that is most commonly associated with marijuana consumption.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which regulates the state’s general use marijuana program, stopped accepting applications for new growing licenses in June to process a monthslong backlog. State lawmakers next year will likely consider a cap on the number of permits issued for grows and fund more field inspectors.

Amid the glut, U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams has pressured the state to tighten the rules and crack down on growers who may be diverting supply to the black market. Sheriffs in the southern Oregon counties most impacted by outdoor growing sites have been vocal about a lack of resources to sleuth out illegal marijuana farms.

Earlier this summer, state regulators targeted one possible problem when they reduced the amount of marijuana flower a medical marijuana patient can buy per day at a retail store from 24 ounces to 1 ounce for a sixmonth trial period.

And since July, the state has required 750 medical marijuana growers with more than 12 plants to register with the commission. Their plants will now be tracked from seed to sale just like nonmedical cultivators’ are. Sixteen inspectors are tasked with visiting these larger medical grow ers to look for diversion, with more to be hired, said Mark Pettinger, commission spokesman.

For the nonmedical growers, the harvest rule will require them to notify the state by 9 a.m. on a day they plan to harvest by entering their plans into a cannabis tracking system.

“It’s like an audit. They’re going to go out and make sure that plant counts and package count match what’s in the system,” Pettinger said.