Oregon’s Recreational Dispensaries Are Overtaking Medical Dispensaries

Oregon’s marijuana industry seems to be shifting more toward recreational sales. On January 1, medical marijuana dispensaries were no longer permitted to make recreational sales, however, recreational retailers are permitted to serve both recreational and medical customers. The state has been working to determine how many employees there are in the industry, and which sectors.

The Oregon Employment Department made a database of the known retailers and medical dispensaries statewide, according to Oregon Business Report. The methods used to determine how many industry employees there are in Oregon is not disclosed in its entirety. What they did look at is the information that is provided by employers, publicly available information and registries within the industry.

Oregon has 217 known recreational marijuana retailers. Those retailers employ 2,062 people with average pay at $23,706 annually. There are 71 known medical marijuana dispensaries employing 289 persons, with average annual salaries of $21,282.

The total payroll for the recreational marijuana industry in the first quarter of 2017 totaled $12,270,595. Medical marijuana dispensaries paid out $1,538,148 in that same time frame. From these numbers, it appears that the recreational marijuana market in Oregon has a much larger presence.