Important information for any Oregon Medical Marijuana activists out there… Find your Oregon Representative, call them, and ask them to oppose HB 5077, specifically that it steals the surplus from the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.
There has been a terrible bill passed by ways and means on Tuesday, HB 5077 which takes $900,000 from OMMP [Oregon Medical Marijuana Program] bank account and puts into general fund. This will bankrupt the program and eliminate any chance of anything in [SB] 772 [learn more here] which requires OMMP expenditures to fail OR force a fee raise.
Grant Higginson gave the heads up two days ago. HB 5077 is scheduled for a vote on the house floor next week early, but will likely get up later due to carryovers from the previous days.
That’s your government in action. They fight medical marijuana like hell, then when it passes they predict it can’t fund itself, then when it becomes a hugely successful self-funded program running a surplus, they come slithering back to steal the surplus. According to the Salem, Oregon Statesman-Journal from last August:
Advocates want more of the funds to go toward patients As the number of medical-marijuana patients continues to rise in Oregon, the accompanying licensing fees have generated a substantial budget surplus.
The Oregon Medical Marijuana Program reported a surplus of about $986,000 by the end of March.
The patient-registration program was created after the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act took effect in 1998. The program started without state funding in 1999 and has operated solely on patient fees.
More than 10,000 patients are registered. Estimates for the program’s first years were between 500 and 1,000 participants.
Based on projections, application fees were set to cover a $100,000 price tag for launching the agency, said Dr. Richard Bayer, Administrative Rules Committee member for the state’s medical-marijuana act.
The goal was surpassed within two years.
A new application is $150, or $50 for people on the Oregon Health Plan or receiving Supplemental Security Income.
A renewal application is $100, or $50 for people on the OHP or receiving SSI.
