Final month, my Portland colleague and hashish enterprise litigator extraordinaire Jesse Mondry authored a publish titled Oregon Hashish: Drive-Via Marijuana Gross sales Ending? On Friday, December 16, we obtained a solution to that query. The reply, I’m glad to report, is “not at the moment.” That willpower got here by way of the Oregon Liquor and Hashish Fee’s (OLCC) latest, partial adoption of sure proposed rule amendments.
The adjustments at difficulty are summarized in Bulletin CE2022-04 (the “Bulletin”). Please word that the Bulletin doesn’t simply deal with drive-up or drive-thru gross sales. It addresses the essential subject of on-site supply, as properly.
On drive-thru, Jesse wrote:
OAR-025-1300(g) prohibits licensees from promoting marijuana gadgets by way of a drive-up or walk-up window. However in December 2021 the COVID-19 pandemic triggered the OLCC to undertake temporary rules that permitted delivering marijuana gadgets to an individual within the car parking zone of the shop, an individual on the entrance entrance of the shop, or an individual at a walk-up or drive-thru window of the shop. So for almost two years, retailers, sufferers, and prospects have turn into accustomed to having the choice of utilizing a drive-thru to ship marijuana (the place not in any other case prohibited by a neighborhood ordinance).
Now that the pandemic seems to be winding down, the OLCC seems poised to reinstate the previous rule, partly, by forbidding drive-thru supply and permitting walk-up window supply. Right here’s what the brand new rule could say: A license could not promote any marijuana merchandise by way of a drive-up or walk-up window. Proposed OAR 845-025-1300.
Individuals had rather a lot to say about this one, as we are able to attest from final month’s hearings. Security and accessibility considerations have been on the fore. It appears OLCC took that suggestions severely, concluding:
Through the guidelines advisory committee conferences and the rule public remark interval, it grew to become apparent… {that a} separate rulemaking course of focusing solely on drive-up and on-site supply guidelines is required. We can be scheduling that within the coming New Yr.
Energy to the folks! In case you’re nonetheless right here and haven’t clicked over to the Bulletin, I’ll make your life even simpler. Right here is the important thing minimize and paste:
What stays the identical?
- OLCC will proceed to NOT implement the prohibition on drive-up home windows. Native jurisdictions (cities and counties) can nonetheless prohibit drive by way of exercise by way of time, place and method rules.
- Retailers can proceed to supply on-site supply choices for customers (e.g. – order forward, ship to automobile in managed car parking zone.) Supply by way of a walk-up window is taken into account on-site supply and should adjust to OAR 845-025-2885.
What adjustments?
- This rule bundle eliminated the walk-up window prohibition, which means you’ll be able to proceed to make use of or add walk-up window choices at retail shops.
- For on-site supply or drive-up supply a brand new rule has been added that prohibits supply to a automobile if minors are current, except the minors are accompanying a mother or father or guardian. This solely applies to deliveries made to a automobile; minors are nonetheless NOT allowed inside retail shops.
Fairly simple and we’ve obtained no drawback with any of it. For anybody who does, or desires to advocate for the continued proper to supply drive-thru and supply gross sales as at the moment allowed, keep tuned for the separate rulemaking course of OLCC now proposes in 2023.
Within the meantime, as all the time, we encourage you to learn each OLCC Compliance Bulletin fastidiously, and to join OLCC email alerts. Perhaps even comply with the Fee on any of its social media. They aren’t the worst accounts.