Oregon Breaks Its Own Record for Cannabis Production

Oregon continues to have a cannabis industry with great news for cannabis consumers, but brings financial misery to those growing, processing and selling it.

Last year saw a trend continue that has plagued the Oregon industry — namely, growers produce far more cannabis than we consume. In 2025, licensed growers produced 13.5 million pounds, up from 12.3 million pounds in 2024. (Oregon’s population as of 2024 was 4.2 million, meaning growers produced over three pounds for every man, woman and child in the state. I’m doing my part, but some of y’all need to step it up.)

Oversupply leads to spiraling prices, with 2025 seeing an all time low of $3.33 per gram. In 2017, it was over $10 per gram. This isn’t to say that there aren’t still numerous $10 grams, and while price isn’t always an indicator of quality, a $19 ounce isn’t going to be anyone’s go-to unless price is the primary consideration.

As OregonLive reports, “Oregon marijuana sales were down more than 20% last year from their peak in 2021, dropping to $926 million. Prices fell 40% in that time.”

While lower prices are a tremendous boon for those buying, it’s squeezing the industry into more consolidation. That means smaller craft growers may decide to sell out to a corporate entity, and as we’ve covered here before, corporate weed sucks.

Fixing this has no easy answers, but the industry is hoping that the recent announcement for cannabis rescheduling will offer a lifeline of sorts. The insanely punitive 280E tax code, which forbids cannabis businesses from taking any tax credit or deduction, is expected to be repealed. While there is no defined timeline, the deductions could save growers, processors and dispensaries tens of thousands of dollars annually.

Crumblin’ Erb

The intersection of hip-hop and cannabis has always been solid, and you could craft a banging and lengthy playlist of artists praising their love of it. But when it comes to the success rate of those in hip-hop entering into the cannabis industry, consumers don’t seem to have 5 on it.

Two New Jersey-based dispensaries with hip-hop connections have recently closed, both less than a year after opening.

In April 2025, Ice-T joined other co-owners in the opening of New Jersey-based The Medicine Woman dispensary. According to NJ.com, the owners blamed “…“Despite significant investment, compliance, and readiness to launch, the lack of local oversight and regulatory infrastructure undermined our ability to grow and sustain operations, effectively driving the operation into the ground before it ever even had a real chance to get started.”

Celebrity endorsed cannabis already has a mixed track record, with winners such as Willie Nelson and Mike Tyson. Despite being as cool as his name, Ice-T did tell Forbes that he doesn’t use cannabis.

Also having a 40 poured out in its honor, the Newark-based Hashtoria dispensary shuttered, despite having co-owners Raekwon of Wu-Tang, and Charlamagne Tha God, among others. Local industry analysts also place blame on New Jersey’s cannabis regulatory agency, as well as the overwhelming number of local stores selling hemp-derived THC products.

And while it hasn’t shut down completely, the Cookies chain of dispensaries, started by Berner, has seen a number of lawsuits in recent years that have darkened its financial outlook. It exited the Michigan market in July of 2025, after shutting down its Santa Ana location in 2024.

While considered by many to be one of, if not the, best known brand in cannabis, November 2025 saw a San Francisco judge issue an $8.4 million judgement against Cookies. Their lawyers say that the judgement will “result in an immediate insolvency event”…“leaving Cookies without operating revenues.”

It’s not as though Berner can just sling more bags to make the money needed to settle the judgement. As MJBizDaily explains, “Royalties from Cookies-licensed, third-party owned stores in Canada, Israel and Thailand as well as the United States – the lifeblood of the “asset-light” marijuana branding powerhouse Forbes once estimated was worth $250 million – must instead be paid to the company’s erstwhile partner on a failed San Francisco marijuana store.”

This article appears in the Source February 5, 2026.