Estacada Voters to Weigh Ban on New Marijuana Production, Processing Businesses

Ballot Measure 3-638 would block new cannabis production, processing and wholesale operations in Estacada while leaving existing businesses and retail shops untouched.

FILE — statehouse · B.D. Gilfry / CC BY-SA 2.0

Voters in Estacada will decide whether to close the door on new marijuana production, processing and wholesale businesses in the city, according to Your Oregon News.

Ballot Measure 3-638 was referred to voters by the Estacada City Council and will appear as part of the 2026 General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 3, the outlet reported.

What the Measure Does

The measure targets the industrial side of the cannabis supply chain — production, processing and wholesaling — and would prevent any new operations of that kind from opening in the city, Your Oregon News reported. It would not affect existing licensed businesses, nor would it restrict retail shops or dispensaries, which could continue to open under current rules.

According to the report, six marijuana industrial businesses currently operate within Estacada city limits, some with multiple locations. Those businesses would be allowed to continue operating regardless of the outcome.

Two Outcomes

If voters reject the measure, Your Oregon News reported that nothing changes: existing operations remain, and new production, processing and wholesale businesses could still apply to open in the city's M-1 light industrial zone, subject to standard permitting.

If voters approve it, existing marijuana businesses would keep operating, but the city would stop approving new production, processing or wholesale license applicants going forward. Retail and dispensary operations would remain unaffected either way, per the outlet's account.

OregonLive.com also covered the referendum, framing it as a city move to bar new cannabis businesses more than a decade after Oregon's legalization of adult-use marijuana — a characterization consistent with the mechanics described by Your Oregon News, though OregonLive's full framing was not independently reviewed for this story.

Statewide Backdrop

Estacada's vote comes as Oregon's licensed cannabis footprint remains large relative to its population. State licensing records show 758 active retail licenses, 1,347 cultivation licenses, 263 manufacturing licenses and nine testing labs statewide as of the most recent update, with no pending applications logged in that dataset.

Official sales filings in state monthly data show multiple individual Oregon sales entries for July and August 2026 each falling in roughly the $0.003 billion to $0.08 billion range; the dataset does not make clear how these entries should be combined or what they represent in aggregate, so a reliable statewide monthly total cannot be stated with confidence from this material.

The Estacada referendum arrives amid a broader run of Oregon cannabis regulatory activity. State licensing records logged several openings and closures in early September, including new retail licenses issued to SR Oregon Milwaukie LLC and Century Center, a new distribution license for Frank's LLC, and a new cultivation license for Urban Pharms, alongside closures of licenses held by TBL, Konnex Wholesale, M.C. Spectrum and Humble. Separately, Marijuana Moment reported Oregon regulators dropped a proposal to raise psilocybin business licensing fees, and Harris Sliwoski LLP reported the U.S. Supreme Court may take up the constitutionality of state cannabis residency requirements — both signs of continued flux in the state's regulatory environment.

What to Watch

Because Measure 3-638 would not touch existing businesses or retail licensing, its practical effect — if approved — would fall only on prospective production, processing and wholesale applicants in Estacada specifically, not on the city's current industry base or its retail sector. Whether other Oregon municipalities pursue similar local restrictions may become clearer after the Nov. 3 vote, though no other jurisdictions were cited in the available reporting as considering comparable measures.