On Wednesday, Measure 91, the first part of the ballot initiative approved by 56 percent of Oregon voters in November, officially took effect. The state, which, in 1998 became the second to pass a medical marijuana statute, joins Colorado, Washington and Alaska (whose law went into effect in February) in decriminalizing adult possession of marijuana.
Oregon citizens 21 or older can now legally possess up to 8 ounces of leaf marijuana and four cannabis plants in their homes, as long as the plants are out of public view. They can hold 1 ounce, though not use it, in public, though use is legal on private property.
Marijuana cannot be taken out of state, including neighboring Washington, which has legalized recreational consumption as well. It can be shared but not sold until regulated sales begin. Regulation will be under the state’s Liquor Control Commission.
Licensing for commercial growers, processors and retail outlets won’t start until Jan. 4, 2016, with stores expected to open sometime in the fall of next year. (In Colorado, retail stores were open in Denver a year and two months after the passage of Amendment 64.)
That two-year delay between passage and implementation is too long for many legislators. A joint House- Senate marijuana committee is seeking to make it possible for recreational buyers to purchase limited amounts from existing medical outlets beginning Oct. 1 of this year. Senate Bill 460, passed unanimously out of com mittee, would allow adults to purchase one-quarter ounce of leaf marijuana per day as well as seeds and plant starts for home grows. Edibles would remain accessible only to medical patients.
One of the main reasons legislators are pushing hard to allow this narrow, 18-month exemption is pretty obvious. Possessing marijuana is now legal, but unless they have generous friends or someone with a medical card who will buy for them, Oregon users still have to find and purchase product on the black market that legalization is intended to eventually destroy. That puts medical patients under stress to sell to friends, and many local dispensaries, expecting to convert to retail sales, are hurting while waiting out the transition.
Measure 91 bears similarities to Amendment 64. As in Colorado, employers have the ability to hire and fire employees based on cannabis use, even with a medical card and off the job, a right that was recently bolstered by a Colorado Supreme Court ruling. And the legislation has provisions against driving under the influence, which means the state will grapple with how to tell if drivers with cannabis in their system are impaired, and if so, how much.
In 15 counties in eastern Oregon, at least 55 percent of voters opposed Measure 91. The new law allows local governments in those counties to ban any marijuana-related businesses, including medical dispensa ries. None of those counties will share in any cannabis tax revenues, which the state sets at 17 percent, with local municipalities able to add on three percent for themselves if voters approve.
City councils can vote to prohibit early sales and county commissioners can ban sales in unincorporated areas. Next up for the bill is getting the full Senate and House votes and the signature of Gov. Kate Brown. Proponents are quietly optimistic that this stopgap measure will pass, especially in the larger cities.
In other state news, Rhode Island lawmakers left dozens of bills in the lurch when they adjourned in June, including one that would have made the state next in line for limited legalization. The Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Act would allow adults to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow one plant and allow retail sales, cultivation and testing facilities. Lawmakers are already discussing a special fall session to end the legislative logjam and pass the bill.
As the 2016 election approaches, initiatives are in various stages of planning in several states, notably Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and California.
Though the state was the first to regulate medical marijuana and is probably the largest producer of marijuana of all states, California is the one most people are watching most carefully.
Proposition 19, which would have regulated, controlled and taxed recreational cannabis, was defeated in 2010, 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent, and attempts in 2012 and 2014 never materialized. Polls indicate that 2016 is looking better, and were it successful, the entire West Coast, from Alaska to Mexico, would be rid of the scourge of the drug war.
You can hear Leland discuss his most recent column and Colorado cannabis issues each Thursday morning on KGNU. http://news.kgnu.org/weed
