BEND, Oregon — Cascadia Labs is nestled amid ornamental fruit trees in a quiet office park on the north end of Bend. In this lab, employees with backgrounds in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries spend their days testing a variety of products with one common ingredient, consumed by thousands of patients across Oregon: medical marijuana.

Cascadia Labs co-owner Jeremy Sackett, 32, is just one of the entrepreneurs who has joined Oregon’s medical pot industry, where new regulations aimed at increasing quality and safety have helped spawn businesses headed up by people with backgrounds in science and the legal profession. Sackett worked at biotechnology companies until a year ago, when he started Cascadia Labs LLC with his wife, Ashley Preece-Sackett, 34. The company now has customers across the state who send samples via a medical courier service. The couple recently opened an office in Portland to receive samples, and Sackett is building a lab in Portland, too. [Read More…]