As election day approaches, marijuana legalization in Oregon will once again be put on the ballot.
Measure 91 would legalize the sale of marijuana to individuals over the age of 21 and allow them to have up to eight ounces of the substance.
On the November 2012 ballot, Measure 80 failed to pass. The failed measure would have allowed personal cultivation without a license. The measure would have also created a commission to regulate the sale of marijuana commercially.
Sam Chapman is a University of Oregon graduate who co-wrote House Bill 3460, which is meant to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon.
Chapman said Measure 80 failed because it allowed unlimited growth of marijuana, and gave children the ability to purchase cannabis seeds.
House Bill 3460 went into effect on Mar. 3.
The bill, signed by Governor John Kitzhaber, formed a registration system for medical marijuana facilities and implemented registration systems that monitor and authorize marijuana plant transfer.
Before Colorado legalized marijuana, it had a similar bill passed in 2010, HB 10-1284.
HB 3460 is similar to HB 10-128, and when HB 3460 went into effect, some facilities shut down because of a requirement stating that dispensaries cannot be located within 1,000 feet of schools.
The current ballot measure has an imposed tax. The tax is $35 per ounce on all marijuana flowers, $10 per ounce on all marijuana leaves and $5 per immature marijuana plant. Immature plants are defined in the measure as a plant with no buds or flowers.
This proposed measure has exclusivity to tax marijuana, meaning neither counties or cities in Oregon would be allowed to impose a specific tax. It would also grant responsibilities to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, such as the ability to limit quantities sold to prevent illegal resale.
If passed, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission would be in charge of distributing licenses to marijuana distributors.
Such licenses include those used for production, processing, wholesale and retail of the plant.
Oregon could become the third state in the United States to legalize recreational marijuana if this measure passes.
Colorado blazed the trail, legalizing with the first of the year and soon followed by Washington.
To give some idea of where Oregonians will fall in November, the City Club of Portland had its 1,900 members complete online ballots on five of the measures on the November ballot, including marijuana legalization.
Measure 91 passed by 83 percent.
The only other measure assessed that passed with a higher margin was Measure 88, which would provide driver cards for undocumented residents. It passed within the City Club by a total of 95 percent.
“We hope to help inform the debate about these important measures that could reshape our state,” City Club President Karen Kervin said.
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