The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program has issued a warning to cannabis cultivators who are conducting business operations in accordance with inventory reporting requirements: stick to the rules or face the consequences.

Anyone who doesn’t follow the cannabis-growing rules will face harsh penalties, according to a recent OMMP bulletin. The notice reminded medical cannabis growers at authorized grow sites to utilize the Oregon Medical Marijuana Online System (OMMOS).

Product transfer information must be uploaded to the OMMOS, which should also log the details of each grower’s on-site cannabis inventory. Growers must log in to the OMMOS and, if necessary, report any product transfers or inventory updates that have occurred in the last 30 days.

Shockingly, the agency claims that 1,618 of a total 1,903 cannabis cultivators failed to report inventory and transfer information in February 2019.

“Reporting to OMMOS is crucial in that it requires growers to report cannabis products going into or out of their site, or remaining on site, which helps to prevent diversion to the black market,” said the agency’s manager, Megan Lockwood.

The administrative discrepancies were identified during an Oregon Secretary of State audit, according to Lockwood. She says that the OMMP listed OMMOS tracking enforcement as a section of the program that must be addressed to ensure the administrative failures do not happen again.

In order to submit a report on the OMMOS, an online account must first be created by cultivators. Two specific Oregon Administrative Rules instruct cannabis cultivators to report on-site inventory and transfers from the previous month no later than the 10th day of every month. 

The Oregon Administrative Rules are not exactly new, what with reporting being a necessity since July 2016. Anyone who has failed to cultivate cannabis in compliance with the rules must now do so before May when civil penalties will be issued to growers who fail to submit a report. The minimum penalty fee to be paid is $200.

Warning letters will be sent out to non-compliant cannabis cultivators in Oregon

Oregon’s cannabis cultivation reporting rules do not apply to patients who are growing the plant only for themselves at their home residence. Reporting is only required if the grower is transferring useable cannabis to a registered processing site or dispensary.

The OMMP requires growers to report monthly utilizing the OMMOS system, so long as they are either of the following:

• The designated cultivator for an OMMP patient, not including themselves.
• A patient cultivating the plant for personal use at their home residence for transfer to a medical cannabis dispensary or processor.
• A patient cultivating the plant for personal use at a grow site address that is not their home residence.

Growers who fail to come into compliance will receive notices of civil penalty by next month.