A local marijuana business owner will have to give up his three licenses after the Oregon Liquor Control Commission charged him with a series of violations. The terms of agreement between the owner of the shops and a production facility, Jeremy Wheeler, and OLCC were established in a meeting on Nov. 21. 

The charges apply to Wheeler’s recreational retailer license for Sweet Leaf Cannabis in Eugene and Springfield, as well as his recreational producer license for Heavy Lids in Fall Creek, Oregon. 

Over an extended period of time, the OLCC said, Wheeler failed to collect taxes that were imposed on the consumer when products were sold at both Sweet Leaf locations and/or intentionally did not report these taxes to the Oregon Department of Revenue. From Jan. 1 to 24, the OLCC said, Wheeler “failed to have camera coverage for all limited access areas” at the Eugene location, “including an upstairs storage room and a stairwell where marijuana was transported from one floor to the next.” 
“You’ve got to have a video recording system that records the activity from all those cameras,” OLCC spokesperson Mark Pettinger said. “You need to track it in the Cannabis Tracking System, and so those folks who don’t do that, they get violated pretty quickly”

Use of the service METRIC CTS is required for all OLCC recreational licensees to track the inventory and transfer of legal marijuana products, and Pettinger said the Commission reviews data from the tracking system for potential “anomalies.”

Wheeler issued a statement via email in response to the charges, saying, “Unfortunately, we are receiving excessive enforcement action against us by the OLCC when there have been numerous others in the same position with the same infractions as us and instead they were handled with a fine instead of with the extreme measures we are being dealt by the OLCC.”

Wheeler said he has helped generate tax revenue for the state and said “OLCC seems hell bent on pushing out the oldest retailer on main street.” He said that the OLCC investigator claimed to only be following up on owed tax fines and that “the DOR and misleading staff and system errors” hindered his ability to pay his taxes on time.

The set of terms, known as stipulated settlements, lists Wheeler as a member of all three businesses, which he is currently in the process of selling, according to the settlements. He must surrender each license either upon selling the business or by 7 a.m. on Jan. 31, 2020 — whichever comes first — at which point OLCC will destroy all leftover marijuana products.

Describing the Commission’s approach to complying with marijuana regulations, Pettinger described a stool with three legs. “So one of those is cameras, and then the second is the Cannabis Tracking System and the third are inspectors — the boots on the ground, kind of thing,” he said. “And the reason why is we’re trying to prevent the potential for diversion into the illegal market.”

Wheeler was also charged with moving marijuana products from Heavy Lids to his garage at his personal residence. 

“That’s not a secure place, and it’s not qualified as such,” Pettinger said. Wheeler also grew marijuana plants outside of the area in the cultivation plan he had previously submitted to OLCC for approval. Pettinger said that Wheeler “gave no explanation for why the product was at the garage.” 

Wheeler may apply for a new license in the future but, but Pettinger says his recent violations will leave a “black mark” on his file that will make it difficult to attain a license for marijuana or even alcohol. 

“Generally, bad actors on this level aren’t going to get licensed,” he said. “It would take the passage of a significant amount of time and, you know, becoming an upstanding citizen for him to be ever reconsidered.”

The penalty for the violations is to revoke the relevant retailer licenses. Wheeler also faces lower-category charges, such as not having a valid marijuana worker permit for his producer position or failing to provide evidence to OLCC upon request. 

“We got out there and took inventory of the situation, and it was problematic. A lot of these are operational issues when I look at them,” Pettinger said. “For whatever reason, they just couldn’t stick to the required operating plan.”

Wheeler waives his right to a hearing on all matters by accepting the terms of the stipulated settlement agreement.