The Legal Cannabis Industry Is Populated By Professionals, Says New Oregon Campaign
Go Legal! launched last week with a series of videos meant to highlight the importance of cannabis consumers and industry members choosing to participate in the legal market.
The videos – produced by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC)’s Recreational Marijuana Program and the Metropolitan Group – feature interviews with major players from Oregon’s regulated cannabis marketplace, from growers to lab technicians to retail workers.
“We wanted to help dispel old stereotypes and enable Oregonians to better understand who’s in this industry,” Mark Pettinger, spokesman for the Recreational Marijuana Program, told Civilized.
“The idea was to show that there’s a professional class of individuals who are participating in the regulated market and really want to make a go of it.”
Oregon has had recreational cannabis legalization in place since 2015, but Pettinger said many people living in the state continue to have unanswered questions and concerns about the industry. He hopes the Go Legal! campaign will help spread awareness to those people and bring them into the fold.
He also hopes the campaign reaches those who continue to contribute to the black market in one way or another.
A worker at HiFi Farms in Oregon lugs cannabis into a greenhouse // Photo Go Legal!
“Seeing the folks who are making products in the cannabis industry and hearing the enthusiasm in their voices and the proficiency that they’re bringing to the craft – that’s important,” says Pettinger, adding that, for the most part, “people don’t want to have to go to the illegal market.”
“There’s a certain peace of mind consumers can have knowing that they can walk into a cannabis retailer in Oregon and purchase product that’s been grown and produced and processed in a safe manner, and that’s not going to jeopardize their health.”
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