News
Q & A with OLCC Chair Rob Patridge on Marijuana
The Commissioner discusses diversity, lessons from Colorado and opening your business
By Donovan M. Smith
Of The Skanner News
restrictive amount of licens-
es.
So I’m not sure from that
standpoint how anybody
would be barred based on
ethnicity, race, or anything
related to that.
Is that kind of what you’re
talking about?
R
ob Patridge sits as
chair of the Oregon
Liquor
Control
Commission five-citizen
board, charged in part with
the task of creating Ore-
gon’s rules of regulation for
the soon-to-be legal mari-
juana industry.
While July 1 marks the
date for the beginning
of legal possession and
consumption, the OLCC
won’t actually begin accept-
ing business licensing
applications until Jan. 4
next year and must come up
with the rules before then.
The day before the the
board of commissioners
was scheduled to convene
for the first time since wrap-
ping an 11-date tour of
Rob Patridge
that they’re sorting through
the applicants and weeding
through them now.
TSN: More specifically in
adopting these rules and
regulations, is there going to
be any sort of language that
says a specific amount of
minorities and/or women
must get licensed or so on?
RP: We have not. We’re
still in the process or mak-
ing the rules. We don’t even
have a draft set of rules. I’m
not aware of any requests
for preference in the 10
meetings that I attended
(which lacked diversity).
That hasn’t necessarily been
brought to my attention. It
could have been to others’
attention. But I certainly
have told staff that I want to
make sure that there’s out-
reach
to
minority
communities.
TSN: Has there been any
language
[circulated]
around people who may
have been convicted with
marijuana-related crimes
will have a fair shot in the
industry as well?
RP: That’s certainly been
brought to our attention, and
we’re certainly going to
consider it in the rulemak-
ing process, what a
background check should
require. How long of a peri-
od someone has been crime
free? What were the crimes
per-se that were committed
by the person? All those
things are going to be talked
about and I encourage peo-
ple who have input on it to
let us know. It’s similar to
what we do with liquor
licensing, looking at their
background to see what
kind of licensing would that
be allowed to have and not?
Read the rest online at
www.theskanner.com
TSN: No pun intended?
RP: No pun intended,
sure.
TSN: Do you know how
diverse the applicant pool
was in terms of race and
geography?
RP: It’s been kind of a
‘I certainly have told staff that I
want to make sure that there’s
outreach to minority
communities’
public listening sessions
across the state for marijua-
na, Tom Burns, the OLCC
marijuana policy advisor
was fired after sharing a
draft of an internal policy
with a Portland lawyer and
then allegedly lying about
it. Will Higgins, director of
licensing, will serve in
Burns’ place until a perma-
nent replacement is found.
The Skanner News spoke
with Patridge just days
before Burns’ ousting in a
half-hour long conversation
to clarify what role diversity
will play in the OLCC’s
rulemaking, lessons learned
from Colorado’s marijuana
rollout, and ensuring a
healthy free market in Ore-
gon.
The Skanner News: First
thing I wanted to ask is how
is this citizen advisory com-
mittee coming along?
Rob Patridge: We’ve
given Steve Marks the exec-
utive director [of the
OLCC] the authority to do
that. I know that we had
over 500 applicants. I think
hands-off what people send
in [for the application].
Obviously with their con-
tact information we could
see where they’re from. But
in terms of their race and
ethnicity, we didn’t ask that.
The commissioners were
actively involved but I think
we’re going to send out a
staff memo with recommen-
dations that we will
ultimately turn over to the
legislature. We’ve already
given some of that report to
the legislature.
TSN: One of the main
things people of color are
concerned about is that
Black people and women
get a fair shake in the indus-
try. Is there anything that
has been discussed around
ensuring minorities and
women are not left out as
they have been in so many
other emerging industries,
such as the technology
field?
RP: I can’t speak for the
rest of the OLCC—but my
intent is to not have a
V Y Peterson Treads
Tough Terrain in New Book
This extraordinary collection of poetry
and fictional prose, chronicles the
realities and disparities of divorce,
relationships and mental illness, within
communities of color.
Portland author V.Y. Peterson hopes,
with her work, to acknowledge the
adversities that are present in
communities of color, that are
impacting life everyday such as: AIDS,
divorce, incarceration and mental
illness. She has written countless plays,
poems and short stories, that outline
her desires for a greater America.
Fruits of Our Labor: MY Words, MY Harvest can be purchased at
authorhouse.com, Broadway Books in Portland and amazon.com.
April 1, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 9