Portland's Cannabis Licensing Logjam Could Cost Businesses $22M a Month
Portland’s licensing bureaucracy, often a challenge for the sternest of businesses, is taking a heavy toll on cannabis entrepreneurs in the city, a new report argues.
The report's authors maintain the system potentially costs nascent businesses more than $22 million in lost revenue each month.
The City Council is set to consider changes, but it’s unclear how far they might go in ending the industry’s frustration.
"The city of Portland and Office of Neighborhood Involvement have developed such a bureaucracy in its marijuana licensing process that it is literally driving the applicants out of business," Beau Whitney, an economist who works with businesses aiming to operate legally in Portland, said in a report released late Monday.
As of Dec. 5, just 19 out of 355 applicants had received their licenses, although another 29 had apparently cleared the process and were waiting to pay their fee.
“If the city does not...
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