A Republican-sponsored bill that would recriminalize the possession of less than one ounce of marijuana passed a Joint Ways and Means subcommittee on Tuesday by a 5-3 vote. The measure passed the Oregon House of Representatives in April.
“This bill is not about health or a message to kids; it is about partisan politics and control,” testified long-time drug-law reform activist Sandee Burbank of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse (MAMA). Burbank said that recriminalizing marijuana would unfairly and unnecessarily burden taxpayers. She added that individuals convicted under the new law could lose their driving privileges for six months.
Under the provisions of House Bill 3643, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana would be increased from a “violation” to a class C misdemeanor crime.
Oregon was the first state to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 1973. Presently, marijuana decriminalization laws remain in effect in ten states: California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon.
For more information, please contact either Sandee Burbank of MAMA at (541) 298-1031 or Paul Stanford of the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp at (503) 235-4606.