The production cap was endorsed by an official assigned to monitor public hearings in July.The official sided with a proposal by the state health department.

Medical cannabis cultivators in the state are divided on whether the proposed plant limits will ensure adequate supplies to patients.

The program currently enrolls 76,000 patients.

Ultra Health, the state’s largest medical cannabis distributor, favors a much higher per-producer cap of 5,000 mature plants and unlimited seedlings.

But hearing officer Craig Erickson wrote that the evidence “does not support the massive increase to a plant-count limit of 5,000.”

As the program grows, cultivators warn that regulatory constraints on production may push medical marijuana patients toward the illicit market or recreational dispensaries in neighboring Colorado.