January 8, 2023 4:15 PM | 3 min read One of the largest purchasers of Oregon’s marijuana, Canadian-based Chalice Brands
owes lots of money to cannabis farmers and producers who are tired of waiting, so they’re taking the company to court.
Chalice purchases products from over 20 Oregon cannabis farms and product makers for its more than 15 dispensaries in addition to its own brands and product lines.
“Chalice is financing its business on the backs of small farmers,” says Marianne Cursetjee, owner of Alibi Cannabis in Clackamas County, just south of Portland. “People are too afraid of saying things out loud because we have no power to collect anything outstanding. I really, truly feel that Chalice is a house of cards.”
Power Dynamics: Chalice’s unpaid invoices, says Beau Whitney, senior economist for the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), demonstrate the power dynamics between big companies with outside capital that sell recreational pot and homegrown businesses and farmers that grow the cannabis and live from paycheck to paycheck.
“If you lose money during a quarter but have $100 million in the bank, it’s easier to bridge yourself versus a small individual firm that doesn’t get paid for a few months and struggles to make payroll,” Whitney said, per Willamette Week (WW).
Unlike alcohol retailers who are forbidden under Oregon law from buying liquor on credit, cannabis retailers often buy on credit, essentially agreeing to pay after the product changes hands.