10 Reasons Why Oregon Has the World’s Best Marijuana Legalization
I should really keep my mouth shut about this if I don’t want to see a massive influx of Green Rush immigrants driving up our housing costs. But I cannot, for I am so excited that in the wake of our legislature amending our marijuana legalization Measure 91, we are left with the best marijuana legalization in the industrialized world!
1) The Country’s Greatest Legal Marijuana Possession Limits
As of July 1, Oregon’s Measure 91 allows adults 21 and older to possess an ounce of marijuana in public, a half-pound at home, a pound of marijuana-infused edibles, 4.5 pints of marijuana-infused liquids, and an ounce of store-bought extracts. Not “or” but “and” — we can possess all of that! (And I think that exclamation just won Conjunction Junction!)
2) There are No Marijuana Possession or Delivery Felonies for Adults
Not only are Oregon’s limits the greatest of any of the four legal states, but Oregon also dropped the penalties for amounts over the limit. You can have up to double the legal limits and only get a Class B Violation — a ticket and a fine with no criminal record for up to a pound of weed. You can have up to quadruple the legal limits — up to two pounds of weed — and it is only a Class B Misdemeanor. While Measure 91 made anything over quadruple the limit a Class C Felony, the legislature just reduced them all to Class A Misdemeanors. Unlawful delivery of up to an ounce is a violation, over an ounce is a Class A Misdemeanor — meaning adults can’t get a felony for marijuana possession or delivery alone in Oregon, unless they try to take it out of Oregon to sell, that’s a Class C Felony.
3) No Marijuana Felonies for Minors, Either
The de-penalization by the legislature also took up the case of people under 21, who now are only ticketed for up to an ounce in possession, or face a Class B Misdemeanor for up to a half-pound in possession, edibles up to a pound, and liquids up to 4.5 pints. Any amounts over those are a Class A Misdemeanor. However, we’re still protecting kids; adult (age 21+) delivery to minors (age 18-) is still a Class C Felony (so the age-22 college student passing a joint to age-19 college student isn’t a felony, or age-20 older brother to age-17 younger sister) and unlawful cultivation or delivery within 1,000 feet of a school is a still a Class A Felony.
4) We Can Grow Our Own Marijuana, Even near Schools
That’s unlawful cultivation near a school that’s a felony. The legislature explicitly protected our possession, processing, and home grow rights near schools, which is four marijuana plants per household. Colorado does allow six, but only three may be mature, and Washington doesn’t allow any home-grow at all. Alaska kicks all our butts with 25 plants in a home, but that’s thanks to a 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision related to constitutional privacy, not the 2014 legalization statute.
5) You Can Legally Have a Pound of Hash
Measure 91 originally defined marijuana extracts as those concentrates manufactured with butane, hexane, propane, isopropyl alcohol, ethanol, or carbon dioxide, while remaining unclear about ice water hash, bubble hash, finger hash, rosin, and kief. The legislature cleared that up, creating a new designation of “concentrates” that are products made by mechanical or non-hydrocarbon extraction techniques. So butane, propane, and hexane hash oils are still extracts with a one-ounce limit, but everything else (except CO2 extracts that also use high heat and pressure) are now concentrates with a one-pound possession limit and no amount that can get you a felony.
6) Quickest to Recreational Marijuana Sales
There’s a bill on the governor’s desk, likely to be signed, that will allow many of our 250+ medical marijuana dispensaries to sell to all adults starting October 1. That will be three months from legality to sale, where Colorado took twelve months and Washington took eighteen months. Now, they’ll only be selling up to a quarter ounce of flower, seedlings, and seeds to non-medical customers — adults won’t be able to buy edibles, concentrates, liquids, or extracts until the recreational stores open.
7) Lowest Marijuana Taxes
When those sales begin on October 1, thanks to a quirk in the law that doesn’t allow taxation until 2006, we will be selling marijuana to all adults tax-free for the last three months of 2015 (plan your holiday vacation now). Then, on January 4, 2016, a temporary 25% retail excise tax kicks in, but only for recreational purchasers at medical stores, and no longer than December 31, 2016. Finally, when recreational retail stores open around August 2016, the state retail excise tax of 17% kicks in, with a potential additional 3% local sales tax. Compare this to Colorado, where consumers pay 15% excise tax, 10% sales tax, additional city & county taxes ranging from 1% – 5%, and state sales tax of 2.9%. Or Washington, with (now) a 37% retail excise tax, plus state and local sales taxes ranging from 6.5% – 9.6%.
8) Lowest Marijuana Prices
PriceOfWeed.com and MJCharts.com consistently show Oregon to have the lowest reported prices on marijuana. Some medical dispensaries in Portland, which will be allowed to sell to all adults on October 1, are offering ounce specials as low as $79, and even the best quality super-bud rarely sells for over $225 an ounce.
9) Nobody Cares About Immature Marijuana Plants Anymore
The commercial marijuana regulations are yet to be written, but the legislature has forbidden any regulations that limit number, canopy, or weight of immature marijuana plants. They also struck down the “twelve inch rule” from 2005 that determined a mature plant is one that’s taller and/or wider than twelve inches, whether it is flowering or not. That rule is now also gone from the medical marijuana program as well.
10) Still the Best Medical Marijuana State in the US
In addition to no more worries about counting immature plants, medical marijuana has been strengthened in Oregon. Patients can no longer be denied organ transplants. “A degenerative or pervasive neurological condition” is now a qualifying condition for OMMP Card — think ALS, MS, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s, Tourette’s and many more. Hospice and palliative care centers may be designated as additional caregivers for dying and home-bound patients. Best of all, no more “wink wink, nudge nudge” about only reimbursing medical growers for supplies and expenses; patients may now explicitly reimburse growers for all costs of producing marijuana, including labor.
Bonus) Even the Bad Stuff Ain’t That Bad
We didn’t get everything we wanted. Home hydrocarbon extraction is a felony and even mere possession of homemade extracts is a misdemeanor up to a quarter ounce and a felony over that, but too many news stories of idiots blowing up apartments and motels and gas station bathrooms blasting BHO brought that on.
Medical marijuana grows now have record-keeping requirements, cultivation limits of 12 mature plants in residential zones, 48 in non-residential, and possession limits of 6 pounds per indoor plant and 12 pounds per outdoor plant (at this point, are you playing the world’s tiniest violin in sympathy?), but too many news stories of massive marijuana farms and city backyards with floodlights, barbed-wire, armed guards, pit bulls, and a pervasive skunky smell brought that on.
The fifteen eastern Oregon counties that voted greater than 55% against Measure 91 don’t have to follow the statewide law regarding voter-approval of license bans; they get to ban through a vote of their city council or county commission alone. But let’s face it, the voters in those counties would have voted to ban anyway.
All-in-all, Oregon is clearly the best place on the planet to be a marijuana consumer, processor, grower, or retailer. Argh, wait, did I forget to mention we have the best quality and greatest selection of marijuana in the world here? (Let the arguments in the comments begin…)
