Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
Every day, different people ask Adam Jacques the same question: "When can I buy cannabis?"
Jacques, an owner of a Eugene medical marijuana dispensary, doesn't have an answer - yet.
"It's all so up in the air," he said.
But like others involved in Oregon's nascent marijuana industry, Jacques has plans to capitalize on the legalization of the drug in the state, which is set to occur in just 2½ months.
Oregon voters last November legalized the recreational use of marijuana with the passage of Measure 91. Oregon became the fourth state to legalize pot, joining Colorado, Washington and Alaska, plus the District of Columbia.
On July 1, it will be legal for people 21 and older in Oregon to have up to four marijuana plants and 8 ounces of pot at their homes.
But with July fast approaching, there are many unresolved issues about legalizing marijuana, starting with a delay between when pot becomes legal and when residents can buy it lawfully.
Also, Oregon officials must develop rules to govern recreational marijuana. And they likely will work as well on tightening control over the largely unregulated medical marijuana industry.
"What we are watching is the birth of an industry," said Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene. "This is kind of what I imagine happened with alcohol after prohibition."
Regulations governing production, distribution, labeling, testing and taxation of recreational marijuana have yet to be developed by the Legislature and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the state agency implementing Measure 91.
Everyone with an interest in the subject - including Jacques and other marijuana proponents, plus lawyers, local public officials and police officers - are waiting to see what emerges from Salem.
Measure 91, for example, specifies that marijuana can be used legally only in homes. It also allows adults to carry an ounce or less of cannabis in public. Eugene Police Lt. Jennifer Bills said police likely will enforce laws against public consumption of marijuana just as they enforce laws against open containers of alcohol.
However, local officials are waiting to see what direction the Legislature gives law enforcement on how to determine whether people are impaired by marijuana when they are in public, or driving a car.
"We are still waiting for the state Legislature to clean up everything and bring back legislation to designate impairment," Bills said.
Prozanski, whose district includes parts of south Lane and north Douglas counties, is one of 10 lawmakers on a very serious legislative committee with an unintentionally humorous name: Joint Committee on Implementing Measure 91.
The committee, which includes Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, will decide whether to advance Measure 91-related bills to the House of Representatives, after which they would move to the state Senate.
Measure 91 calls for a state tax on marijuana at the grower level - $35 per ounce for flowers produced, $10 per ounce for leaves and $5 for each immature plant.
Role Of The Black Market
The initiative soon will make it legal for adults to use and possess limited quantities of marijuana. But as it now stands, residents won't be able to buy pot legally for perhaps another year, not until after the OLCC grants licenses to people to grow, process and sell weed.
That's because Measure 91 specified that OLCC must start accepting license applications by Jan. 4, 2016.
Before then, OLCC officials will develop a comprehensive "seed to sale" tracking system, partly to prevent excess marijuana from feeding the black market, agency spokesman Tom Towslee said.
"We will issue growers' licenses first, so people can legally get a crop in the ground, and probably license retailers later in 2016," he said. "I would not expect anyone to be able to walk into a store and buy marijuana until the third quarter of 2016."
But some lawmakers and observers worry about the delay between when residents may lawfully possess and consume the drug and when they can legally acquire it.
Measure 91 proponents said legalization, if implemented correctly, would diminish the black market sale of marijuana. But if licensed retail outlets for cannabis aren't available on July 1, they say residents will buy pot from the black market.
That's why Prozanski favors an idea by a fellow Measure 91 implementation committee member, Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, to allow licensed medical marijuana dispensaries to sell to recreational customers temporarily and to collect taxes on the sales until the retail licensing program is in place.
"If you don't have some legal means for people to get recreational marijuana after July 1, you are forcing people to the black market," Prozanski said.
A Tale Of Two Programs
In Oregon, 69,468 residents have state-approved cards to buy marijuana for the treatment of pain, nausea, seizures, cancer and other health problems.
Those patients are served by 45,488 licensed growers and 222 licensed dispensaries.
In Lane County, 7,804 patients are served by 5,004 growers. There are 22 medical marijuana dispensaries in Eugene and Springfield.
State rules let growers and dispensaries charge a price that covers only their cost of the supplies and utilities it takes to produce the marijuana. The buyer cannot pay the grower or a dispensary for any other production costs, including labor.
The likelihood of product-tracking regulations and taxes being employed on recreational pot has some worried that the same curbs could be applied to medical marijuana, which is not taxed.
The current system for medical marijuana should remain intact, said Brian Michaels, a Eugene attorney.
"We want patients to be able to safely and inexpensively access the medication that helps them so much.
"There are all kinds of competing views going on in the Legislature right now," Michaels said. "The big question is, will medical marijuana survive as a separate program, or will it be engulfed by the recreational marijuana program? If that happens, I think patients will suffer."
Prozanski said lawmakers are discussing a "light tracking system" for medical marijuana to ensure that excess cannabis from medical pot growers doesn't end up in the black market. He said he will urge lawmakers to refrain from imposing a tax on medical marijuana.
"If you are in the medical marijuana program, you will be able to continue to buy your medicine through a medical marijuana facility and there will be no tax," Prozanski said.
But if a medical marijuana patient buys cannabis from a recreational retail outlet, they should pay taxes on that product, he said.
"You will not be getting a break," Prozanski said. "We want to maintain the integrity of the (medical marijuana) program."
Relieved, But Not Stoned
Two years ago, Jacques, his wife, Debra Grosella, and their business partner Frank Leeds opened Oregon Microgrowers Guild, a medical marijuana dispensary in the Whiteaker neighborhood.
The dispensary sells a variety of cannabis products - including flowers, edibles and extracts - to people with medical marijuana cards issued by the Oregon Health Authority.
Jacques, 36, grows marijuana himself and relies also on other growers to supply the dispensary, which has about 200 regular customers.
Jacques says his shop specializes in medical cannabis that relaxes muscles, lowers anxiety and relieves pain without the psychoactive side effects from THC, the cannabis compound that makes people feel "high" or "stoned."
"I have so many cancer patients looking for relief, but they don't want to be stoned," Jacques said.
The dispensary "sustains itself," but doesn't make a lot of money. That's partly because of its emphasis on selling relatively low-cost medical cannabis, Jacques said.
"You have a lot of pot shops with high-THC varieties," he said. "Your high THC is going to help people with some conditions, but it's not what I would consider the most medical of cannabis."
Joint Sales Operations?
It's unclear if state regulators will allow medical and recreational marijuana to be sold from the same stores, but many medical marijuana dispensary owners are hoping that happens.
Last July, Cannabliss, one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries in Portland, opened an outlet in Eugene, not far from the University of Oregon campus.
The dispensary is in a restored, two-story converted Victorian home at 11th Avenue and Patterson Street.
"Ideally, we would like to keep medical marijuana on the bottom floor and do recreational marijuana on the second floor," co-owner Matt Price said.
Jacques and his partners plan to open a retail store in Eugene and other cities. They will buy property in Eugene this year and open a recreational store next year, after they get a license from the OLCC.
Jacques declined to reveal the location, for competitive reasons.
In the new store, he said, customers will be able to select a variety of cannabis products, including edibles that will help people relax without the psychoactive effects of high-THC pot.
Jacques predicted that people will shop for marijuana the way they do for wine.
"Once people start using cannabis and feeling the effects, they are going to notice, 'Wow, this is not what I thought it was going to be like. I'm relaxed. I'm feeling good.'
"And a lot of people who home-medicate and go home and enjoy themselves will be working cannabis into their regimen."
A Medicinal Wild West
The medical marijuana program is barely regulated by the Oregon Health Authority, Jacques said.
"It's kind of Wild Westy," he said.
But Jacques said he would welcome true regulation of the medical marijuana program, including inspections and "seed-to-sale" record keeping of his medical marijuana plants, which he says he does anyway.
"I like the idea of being tracked and being transparent," Jacques said. "I have nothing to hide.
"If the state wanted to come in and look at my medicine today, I would absolutely let them do that."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Pot boiler | Local | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon
Author: Edward Russo
Contact: ed.russo@registerguard.com
Photo Credit: Chris Pietsch
Website: Breaking local news, news updates, sports, business and weather | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon
Jacques, an owner of a Eugene medical marijuana dispensary, doesn't have an answer - yet.
"It's all so up in the air," he said.
But like others involved in Oregon's nascent marijuana industry, Jacques has plans to capitalize on the legalization of the drug in the state, which is set to occur in just 2½ months.
Oregon voters last November legalized the recreational use of marijuana with the passage of Measure 91. Oregon became the fourth state to legalize pot, joining Colorado, Washington and Alaska, plus the District of Columbia.
On July 1, it will be legal for people 21 and older in Oregon to have up to four marijuana plants and 8 ounces of pot at their homes.
But with July fast approaching, there are many unresolved issues about legalizing marijuana, starting with a delay between when pot becomes legal and when residents can buy it lawfully.
Also, Oregon officials must develop rules to govern recreational marijuana. And they likely will work as well on tightening control over the largely unregulated medical marijuana industry.
"What we are watching is the birth of an industry," said Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene. "This is kind of what I imagine happened with alcohol after prohibition."
Regulations governing production, distribution, labeling, testing and taxation of recreational marijuana have yet to be developed by the Legislature and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the state agency implementing Measure 91.
Everyone with an interest in the subject - including Jacques and other marijuana proponents, plus lawyers, local public officials and police officers - are waiting to see what emerges from Salem.
Measure 91, for example, specifies that marijuana can be used legally only in homes. It also allows adults to carry an ounce or less of cannabis in public. Eugene Police Lt. Jennifer Bills said police likely will enforce laws against public consumption of marijuana just as they enforce laws against open containers of alcohol.
However, local officials are waiting to see what direction the Legislature gives law enforcement on how to determine whether people are impaired by marijuana when they are in public, or driving a car.
"We are still waiting for the state Legislature to clean up everything and bring back legislation to designate impairment," Bills said.
Prozanski, whose district includes parts of south Lane and north Douglas counties, is one of 10 lawmakers on a very serious legislative committee with an unintentionally humorous name: Joint Committee on Implementing Measure 91.
The committee, which includes Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfield, will decide whether to advance Measure 91-related bills to the House of Representatives, after which they would move to the state Senate.
Measure 91 calls for a state tax on marijuana at the grower level - $35 per ounce for flowers produced, $10 per ounce for leaves and $5 for each immature plant.
Role Of The Black Market
The initiative soon will make it legal for adults to use and possess limited quantities of marijuana. But as it now stands, residents won't be able to buy pot legally for perhaps another year, not until after the OLCC grants licenses to people to grow, process and sell weed.
That's because Measure 91 specified that OLCC must start accepting license applications by Jan. 4, 2016.
Before then, OLCC officials will develop a comprehensive "seed to sale" tracking system, partly to prevent excess marijuana from feeding the black market, agency spokesman Tom Towslee said.
"We will issue growers' licenses first, so people can legally get a crop in the ground, and probably license retailers later in 2016," he said. "I would not expect anyone to be able to walk into a store and buy marijuana until the third quarter of 2016."
But some lawmakers and observers worry about the delay between when residents may lawfully possess and consume the drug and when they can legally acquire it.
Measure 91 proponents said legalization, if implemented correctly, would diminish the black market sale of marijuana. But if licensed retail outlets for cannabis aren't available on July 1, they say residents will buy pot from the black market.
That's why Prozanski favors an idea by a fellow Measure 91 implementation committee member, Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, to allow licensed medical marijuana dispensaries to sell to recreational customers temporarily and to collect taxes on the sales until the retail licensing program is in place.
"If you don't have some legal means for people to get recreational marijuana after July 1, you are forcing people to the black market," Prozanski said.
A Tale Of Two Programs
In Oregon, 69,468 residents have state-approved cards to buy marijuana for the treatment of pain, nausea, seizures, cancer and other health problems.
Those patients are served by 45,488 licensed growers and 222 licensed dispensaries.
In Lane County, 7,804 patients are served by 5,004 growers. There are 22 medical marijuana dispensaries in Eugene and Springfield.
State rules let growers and dispensaries charge a price that covers only their cost of the supplies and utilities it takes to produce the marijuana. The buyer cannot pay the grower or a dispensary for any other production costs, including labor.
The likelihood of product-tracking regulations and taxes being employed on recreational pot has some worried that the same curbs could be applied to medical marijuana, which is not taxed.
The current system for medical marijuana should remain intact, said Brian Michaels, a Eugene attorney.
"We want patients to be able to safely and inexpensively access the medication that helps them so much.
"There are all kinds of competing views going on in the Legislature right now," Michaels said. "The big question is, will medical marijuana survive as a separate program, or will it be engulfed by the recreational marijuana program? If that happens, I think patients will suffer."
Prozanski said lawmakers are discussing a "light tracking system" for medical marijuana to ensure that excess cannabis from medical pot growers doesn't end up in the black market. He said he will urge lawmakers to refrain from imposing a tax on medical marijuana.
"If you are in the medical marijuana program, you will be able to continue to buy your medicine through a medical marijuana facility and there will be no tax," Prozanski said.
But if a medical marijuana patient buys cannabis from a recreational retail outlet, they should pay taxes on that product, he said.
"You will not be getting a break," Prozanski said. "We want to maintain the integrity of the (medical marijuana) program."
Relieved, But Not Stoned
Two years ago, Jacques, his wife, Debra Grosella, and their business partner Frank Leeds opened Oregon Microgrowers Guild, a medical marijuana dispensary in the Whiteaker neighborhood.
The dispensary sells a variety of cannabis products - including flowers, edibles and extracts - to people with medical marijuana cards issued by the Oregon Health Authority.
Jacques, 36, grows marijuana himself and relies also on other growers to supply the dispensary, which has about 200 regular customers.
Jacques says his shop specializes in medical cannabis that relaxes muscles, lowers anxiety and relieves pain without the psychoactive side effects from THC, the cannabis compound that makes people feel "high" or "stoned."
"I have so many cancer patients looking for relief, but they don't want to be stoned," Jacques said.
The dispensary "sustains itself," but doesn't make a lot of money. That's partly because of its emphasis on selling relatively low-cost medical cannabis, Jacques said.
"You have a lot of pot shops with high-THC varieties," he said. "Your high THC is going to help people with some conditions, but it's not what I would consider the most medical of cannabis."
Joint Sales Operations?
It's unclear if state regulators will allow medical and recreational marijuana to be sold from the same stores, but many medical marijuana dispensary owners are hoping that happens.
Last July, Cannabliss, one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries in Portland, opened an outlet in Eugene, not far from the University of Oregon campus.
The dispensary is in a restored, two-story converted Victorian home at 11th Avenue and Patterson Street.
"Ideally, we would like to keep medical marijuana on the bottom floor and do recreational marijuana on the second floor," co-owner Matt Price said.
Jacques and his partners plan to open a retail store in Eugene and other cities. They will buy property in Eugene this year and open a recreational store next year, after they get a license from the OLCC.
Jacques declined to reveal the location, for competitive reasons.
In the new store, he said, customers will be able to select a variety of cannabis products, including edibles that will help people relax without the psychoactive effects of high-THC pot.
Jacques predicted that people will shop for marijuana the way they do for wine.
"Once people start using cannabis and feeling the effects, they are going to notice, 'Wow, this is not what I thought it was going to be like. I'm relaxed. I'm feeling good.'
"And a lot of people who home-medicate and go home and enjoy themselves will be working cannabis into their regimen."
A Medicinal Wild West
The medical marijuana program is barely regulated by the Oregon Health Authority, Jacques said.
"It's kind of Wild Westy," he said.
But Jacques said he would welcome true regulation of the medical marijuana program, including inspections and "seed-to-sale" record keeping of his medical marijuana plants, which he says he does anyway.
"I like the idea of being tracked and being transparent," Jacques said. "I have nothing to hide.
"If the state wanted to come in and look at my medicine today, I would absolutely let them do that."
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Pot boiler | Local | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon
Author: Edward Russo
Contact: ed.russo@registerguard.com
Photo Credit: Chris Pietsch
Website: Breaking local news, news updates, sports, business and weather | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon
