Oregon’s recreational cannabis system has overly strict regulations that make running a business expensive and hamper people aspiring to join the industry, state auditors found in an audit released Thursday.
The report is likely to be cheered by current and aspiring participants in Oregon’s legal cannabis market. It suggests the state should consider easing up on security requirements and other safeguards that made sense when Oregon first legalized cannabis, but have become outdated. And it calls on state officials to use financing tools to help cannabis businesses succeed.
But the document comes at an awkward time for Secretary of State Shemia Fagan, a Democrat whose office carried out the study.
On Thursday, Willamette Week reported that Fagan for the last two months has been a contract consultant for an Oregon company, Veriede Holding, LLC, an affiliate of the cannabis chain La Mota. The owners of the company, Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares, have racked up millions in unpaid federal and state taxes and have been sued repeatedly by vendors for not paying their bills, the paper has reported.
At the same time, the couple has ingratiated themselves with members of Oregon’s political class, becoming major funders of Democratic candidates including Gov. Tina Kotek, Senate President Rob Wagner, then-Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle and Fagan.
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