As reported by Cannabis Benchmarks, the U.S. Cannabis Spot Index fell by 2.8% for the week ending May 18th. And nowhere was that marijuana price decline larger than in Oregon – where the state’s spot index sank to an historic new low for the third straight week in a row.
Much of that drop in Oregon is being blamed on over-production by the state’s pot growers.
According to a report by the Associated Press, Oregon’s inventory for legal marijuana is reportedly near 450,000 kilograms (one million pounds) of usable flower, with another 159,000 kilograms (350,000 pounds) of marijuana extracts, edibles and tinctures.
That glut of legal marijuana is also causing many legal pot growers in Oregon to switch over to hemp production.
The AP says applications in Oregon for licenses to grow hemp have jumped more than twenty-fold over the past three years, to the point where Oregon is now second in the nation (after Colorado) among the 19 states with active hemp cultivation.