In August, a state analyst spotted dozens of suspicious transactions when he crunched cannabis sales data: a small number of medical marijuana cardholders bought unusually large quantities of marijuana flowers on consecutive days.

Oregon regulators suspected medical marijuana patients and caregivers were exploiting the system by buying cannabis to sell on the illicit market.

The response was swift. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, under pressure from federal officials to tackle the robust black market for marijuana, quickly issued a temporary rule that dramatically reduced the amount that medical marijuana cardholders could buy in a day.

The booming supply of legalized cannabis in Oregon could prevent the destruction of the black market. A cautionary tale.

Among the jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis for recreational use in the United States, Oregon has received significant media attention for its booming supply of it. Consumers have enjoyed the resulting low prices: flower is often available for $4 or less per gram, and surveys have indicated an increase in adult use.

Before Matthew Miller harvests marijuana this fall from his fields in Southern Oregon, he’ll have to notify the state for the first time ever — a process that could bring inspectors to make sure none of his pot is being illegally diverted.

The new harvest notification policy, which took effect Saturday, is the first of its kind among states that have legalized marijuana and is intended to ensure legally grown Oregon weed isn’t being transported out of state.

It’s part of a raft of new measures to appease federal officials who have publicly railed against what they call Oregon’s “relaxed” regulatory environment and inadequate oversight of an ambitious legal pot industry.

Most of the nation’s largest cannabis science conference this week featured wonky research papers. The exception was a group of professional athletes, who took the stage to promote cannabis in sports.

In the “doc and jocks” panel, the “doc” was Uma Dhanabalan, a charismatic physician with a private practice in Massachusetts. She interviewed four “jocks,” former athletes in professional football, hockey, rugby and basketball.

The crowd of local Trail Blazers fans and cannabis advocates enthusiastically cheered former Blazer Cliff Robinson as he called for normalizing cannabis use in pro basketball. Robinson said he smoked marijuana to calm his anxiety but was punished for it.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission will ask state lawmakers during the 2019 session for $7 million in recreational pot taxes per biennium to help track medical marijuana.

Legislators appropriated money to start the tracking program; this money would be ongoing funding. Twenty-three positions have been authorized, which includes 16 inspectors, spokesman Mark Pettinger said. 

In a statement to the Statesman Journal, OLCC Executive Director Steve Marks said, "Our regulatory role over cannabis — recreational and now medical — as well as additional oversight responsibilities for hemp has greatly expanded the work of our agency.

Two of the first states to broadly legalize marijuana took different approaches to regulation that left Oregon with a vast oversupply and Colorado with a well-balanced market. But in both states prices for bud have plummeted.

A new Oregon report by law enforcement found nearly 70 percent of the legal recreational marijuana grown goes unsold, while an unrelated state-commissioned Colorado study found most growers there are planting less than half of their legal allotment — and still meeting demand.

Lawmakers from Oregon say state legislators from across the nation are urging Congress to legalize marijuana.

In a joint statement, they said a directive they crafted was approved Wednesday by the National Conference of State Legislators at its annual meeting in Los Angeles. It calls on Congress to help legal cannabis businesses access banking services.

Oregon Senate Republican Leader Jackie Winters said the cannabis industry is making big contributions to her state's economy, and giving it access to secure banking is critical to their success. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, so financial institutions are reluctant to provide it with banking services.

Oregon patients who use medicinal cannabis are finding it more and more difficult to get their prescriptions.

Rapidly changing laws have drastically led to a reduction in the number of dispensaries available for medical cardholders.

Two years ago, there were 420 state medical dispensaries, but now there are only eight, The Guardian reported.

What’s the story?

In 2014, Oregon legalized marijuana for recreational use, which prompted many medical businesses to shift to the recreational side in hopes of making big bucks. The law went into effect in July 2015.

In an attempt to help curb the large amount of black market cannabis that’s been coming out of Oregon, the state is adopting some new measures. Regulators are concerned that if the problem gets too out of control it could prompt federal intervention.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) is now requiring cultivators to give advance notice of their harvests so officials can come to inspect their fields to try and catch plants being diverted into the black market. The commission also wants to check the drying stages to make sure no plants are missing.

Oregon has some issues. It has been 20 years since it became (with Washington in 1998, after California in 1996) one of the first states to legalize medical cannabis, and its voters approved an adult-use market in 2014. Oregon knows about cannabis.

It just does not know how much cannabis it has, according to New Frontier Data.

Through an internal review released this month, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) overseeing the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) admitted a lack in regulatory oversight of the industry, particularly concerning growers.