Blog:Main/Cannabis News: Oregon in Transition - Revision history

Jbernal at 17:39, August 6, 2014

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Et may at 15:42, August 6, 2014

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Et may at 23:54, August 5, 2014

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Et may at 23:52, August 5, 2014

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Et may at 23:51, August 5, 2014

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Et may at 23:44, August 5, 2014

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Et may at 23:43, August 5, 2014

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Et may at 23:41, August 5, 2014

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Et may at 23:40, August 5, 2014

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 OCDLA Member Leland R. Berger practices statewide from his office in inner NE Portland, where he, and his legal assistant/office manager Leia Flynn, operate as Oregon CannaBusiness Compliance Counsel, LLC. Berger is a High Times Magazine Freedom Fighter of the Month, OCDLA President’s Award, NORML Citizen Activist of the Year and Oregon Cannabis Industry Association Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. A slightly different version of this article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of Marijuana Venture magazine.

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		+	OCDLA Member Leland R. Berger practices statewide from his office in inner NE Portland, where he, and his legal assistant/office manager Leia Flynn, operate as Oregon CannaBusiness Compliance Counsel, LLC. Berger is a High Times Magazine Freedom Fighter of the Month, OCDLA President’s Award, NORML Citizen Activist of the Year and Oregon Cannabis Industry Association Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. A slightly different version of this article was originally published in the July 2014 issue of Marijuana Venture magazine.

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−	These are exciting transitional times in Oregon as we move from unregulated medical distribution through regulated medical distribution to legalization and regulated responsible adult use. Here are the details.	+	<summary>These are exciting transitional times in Oregon as we move from unregulated medical distribution through regulated medical distribution to legalization and regulated responsible adult use.</summary> Here are the details.

	Since the passage of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act in 1998, Oregon activists have been searching for a lawful, rational means of distributing cannabis to those who need it therapeutically. Initially, the law allowed possession outside of the garden of one ounce, and (then and now) prohibited use (including transfer) in public. Transfers to non-cardholders specifically and to anyone, cardholder or not, were allowed “for consideration.” Advocates concluded that distribution of less than an ounce, for free, between cardholders was protected by the OMMA and would host gatherings where there would be enough patients to make the transfers protected.		Since the passage of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act in 1998, Oregon activists have been searching for a lawful, rational means of distributing cannabis to those who need it therapeutically. Initially, the law allowed possession outside of the garden of one ounce, and (then and now) prohibited use (including transfer) in public. Transfers to non-cardholders specifically and to anyone, cardholder or not, were allowed “for consideration.” Advocates concluded that distribution of less than an ounce, for free, between cardholders was protected by the OMMA and would host gatherings where there would be enough patients to make the transfers protected.

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 All of this is to say Oregon is going as far forward as politically possible, leaving it to California in 2016 to take us the rest of the way home.
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-Endnote
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-	The Oregon League of Cities and Association of counties and the Sheriffs Association, Chiefs of Police and the Oregon District Attorneys Association, remain the organized prohibitionists in Oregon.

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 Rules implementing HB 3460 were finalized earlier this year, and on March 3 the Oregon Health Authority began accepting applications. The dispensaries cannot be within one thousand feet of a school or one thousand feet of each other. Municipalities reacted in different ways: areas which had previously tolerated unlicensed and unregulated dispensaries continued to do so; others did not. (Referenda petitions have been filed in Clackamas County and in Medford.)
-The municipalities and counties intolerant of the regulated distribution of medicinal cannabis either amended business ordinances or enacted moratoriums on dispensaries. This inevitably lead to litigation which, in turn, caused the Oregon League of Cities and Association of Counties to successfully lobby the 2014 Legislature to pass a bill allowing moratoriums, so long as they were enacted before May 1, 2014, and sunset by May 1, 2015.1 They have announced that they intend to pursue making this permanent in the 2015 Legislative Session.
+The municipalities and counties intolerant of the regulated distribution of medicinal cannabis either amended business ordinances or enacted moratoriums on dispensaries. This inevitably lead to litigation which, in turn, caused the Oregon League of Cities and Association of Counties to successfully lobby the 2014 Legislature to pass a bill allowing moratoriums, so long as they were enacted before May 1, 2014, and sunset by May 1, 2015.<ref>The Oregon League of Cities and Association of counties and the Sheriffs Association, Chiefs of Police and the Oregon District Attorneys Association, remain the organized prohibitionists in Oregon.</ref> They have announced that they intend to pursue making this permanent in the 2015 Legislative Session.
 So what’s going on right now in Oregon? Two things, in addition to the wind down of dispensary prosecutions.
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 Thing two is the submission of what is likely to be enough signatures for a decriminalization initiative—New Approach Oregon. Fellow OCDLA lawyer Paul Loney and I are the criminal defense lawyers involved in drafting this initiative.
-[http://newapproachoregon.com/ New Approach Oregon] builds on and fixes some of the problems with New Approach Washington’s I-502 and incrementally moves reform forward towards real legalization. We leave the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act alone, as well as Oregon’s DUII law (which already prohibits driving while impaired by cannabis). We allow home gardens (smaller than Colorado’s six plants and all you can grow) of four plants and eight ounces, and also allow, at home, 72 ounces of liquid infused products; 32 ounces of solid infused products and one ounce of oil. Four times these limits is a misdemeanor (which is why it is decriminalization and not legalization). It would allow the OLCC a year to come up with regulations for production, processing, wholesaling and retailing licenses for responsible adult use. It would tax production at $35/ounce for the flowers, $10/ounce for the leaf and $5 for a starter plant. As Oregon has no sales tax and assuming no legislative changes, these would be the only taxes.
+New Approach Oregon builds on and fixes some of the problems with New Approach Washington’s I-502 and incrementally moves reform forward towards real legalization. We leave the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act alone, as well as Oregon’s DUII law (which already prohibits driving while impaired by cannabis). We allow home gardens (smaller than Colorado’s six plants and all you can grow) of four plants and eight ounces, and also allow, at home, 72 ounces of liquid infused products; 32 ounces of solid infused products and one ounce of oil. Four times these limits is a misdemeanor (which is why it is decriminalization and not legalization). It would allow the OLCC a year to come up with regulations for production, processing, wholesaling and retailing licenses for responsible adult use. It would tax production at $35/ounce for the flowers, $10/ounce for the leaf and $5 for a starter plant. As Oregon has no sales tax and assuming no legislative changes, these would be the only taxes.
 Regarding taxes, the [http://newapproachoregon.com/the-initiative/ New Approach Oregon initiative] makes it more difficult for municipalities or counties to opt out by creating tax benefits to the dispensaries in their communities; for those entities that do opt out, a referendum is automatically referred to the people without the burden of gathering signatures.
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 At its recent retreat, the OCDLA Board of Directors agreed to lend OCDLA’s support to the New Approach Oregon initiative.
 All of this is to say Oregon is going as far forward as politically possible, leaving it to California in 2016 to take us the rest of the way home.
 Endnote
 	The Oregon League of Cities and Association of counties and the Sheriffs Association, Chiefs of Police and the Oregon District Attorneys Association, remain the organized prohibitionists in Oregon.