Members of the Oregon House and Senate have given final approval to House Bill 3460, which licenses medicinal cannabis dispensaries statewide.
Senate members approved an amended version of the bill by an 18 to 12 vote on July 3. House members had previously passed the bill in June. Members signed off on the Senate’s amendments this past weekend.
House Bill 3460 “directs [the] Oregon Health Authority to establish a registration system for medical marijuana facilities.” The department has until March 2014 to draft rules regulating dispensaries. Such facilities exist presently in the state but are unregulated and remain subject to state and local prosecution. Officials expect to register an estimated 225 dispensaries in the first two years.
Oregonians initially authorized the physician-supervised use of cannabis in 1998. However, the law limits patients’ access to cannabis to either home-cultivation or cultivation by a designated caregiver.
House Bill 3460 was publicly supported of Oregon’s Attorney General, Ellen Rosenblum. The measure now awaits approval from Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico, and Rhode Island have state-licensed medical cannabis dispensaries up and running. (California dispensaries are not licensed by the state.) Similar dispensary outlets are in the process of opening in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont, and Washington, DC.
Does anyone know if this means the street price of marijuana in Oregon might go down or up in price? I hope this brings about more large scale production of cannabis and the lowering of the price further.. =)
I read that arrests have increased by 80% by Obama. That may be true, however there has also been an increased growth of marijuana shops by 1,000% to 5,000%. You can not compare the 1,000 marijuana shops of yesterday with the 100,000 marijuana shops of today and try to compare arrest numbers. If you take into consideration that marijuana shops numbers have multiplied by 100 X and that arrests have less than doubled, and look at it from that size scale, you will find that marijuana arrests have decreased by about 9,000% to scale.
SF, your math is off. The number of people selling and consumering pot is about the same as in the past. So we don’t have to “consider” the number marijuana shops–the number of arrests have doubled in real life, not in relation to the number of dealers which would drop if shops where left alone.
Raided marijuana shops just increases the number of illegal dealers. It is about as smart as pissing into the wind.
This topic provides an interesting story to display federalism, which our country continues to experience tension with. Imagine what non-citizens think of this issue in the US?
Honestly I do not see what the big deal about regulating something that is already all in our communities. These Marijuana Dispensaries make it easier more convenient for patients with actual serious ailments to recieve their medicine. Everyone focuses on the non existent “crime” these dispensaries create, but do not see their need within our communities.