An Oregon crackdown on the sale of cannabis to minors appears to be working.
Last year, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission rolled out a decoy program in which people under 21 tried to buy cannabis.
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During the first check, 19 percent of the decoys managed to buy marijuana.
OLCC spokesman Mark Pettinger says that wasn’t acceptable. The results suggested to regulators that the penalties for selling to minors — a 10-day license suspension or a $1,650 fine for first-time offenders — were too low, he said.
Now the penalties have been increased. The latest decoy mission had a 100 percent compliance rate.
“The industry has taken heed, and they’re doing a much better job of checking identifications to make sure that they’re not letting people who are under the age of 21 into their businesses and allowing them to purchase marijuana,” Pettinger said.
The new penalty is a 30-day license suspension or a $4,950 fine for a first offense.