The Oregon Secretary of State’s office found real problems with the way the Oregon Liquor Control Commission tracks the growth and sale of recreational marijuana in the state, in a February audit. They must be corrected.

State law requires that recreational marijuana be tracked from “seed to sale” with a system that assures every bit of it is both grown and sold according to law. That’s not happening now.

Some of the problems OLCC has no doubt stem from the fact that legalized pot and the laws that govern it are still relatively new. It takes time for any new oversight program to be rid of kinks, and with licensed dealers already dramatically exceeding what was expected, that process no doubt has been slowed.

Most problems, meanwhile, are in the world of information technology. The auditors recommended everything from better backup systems to removal of obsolete software. It says the agency should come up with a data-entry system that all marijuana sellers must use tied directly to sales. According to the audit, one seller showed inspectors just how easy it currently is to send the state phony information, though the seller stopped short of doing that.

Three recommendations in the audit point to the need for specific standards for inspection, more inspectors (there are currently 23 inspectors covering some 1,700 licensees, and the number continues to grow), and more focus on assuring that licensees are submitting accurate information to the state.

Hiring and training more inspectors will take more money than OLCC currently has, and nothing indicates the 2018 Legislature plans to provide it. That’s unfortunate, though in a short-session legislative year, probably to be expected. What Oregonians also should expect is a 2019 Legislature willing to give OLCC the money it needs to complete the task or proper regulation.