Ben's Blog Jobs Watch: Marijuana measure makes ballot
| Jobs Watch: Marijuana measure makes ballot | | Print | |
| Ben Jacklet |
| Friday, July 16, 2010 |
|
The Secretary of State's office has announced that I-28, the medical marijuana dispensary initiative, has qualified for the November 2 ballot. Organizers of the I-28 campaign turned in 130,702 signatures, 85,848 of which turned out to be valid, narrowly exceeding the required number of 82,769 valid signatures. A separate campaign to legalize marijuana and sell it through state-run liquor stores went nowhere. The idea behind I-28 is to allow people to set up nonprofit dispensaries for selling marijuana to people holding medical marijuana cards. The system would be overseen by the state health department.
On the other hand, they could also create new challenges for law enforcement officers already overwhelmed with medical marijuana scams where growers cross the line between legal and illegal sales and produce way more bud than they are legally allowed, selling the excess for illicit profit. The transition could be messy. It also may be inevitable. The Obama Administration has pledged not to crack down on medical marijuana, and history has shown that given the opportunity to liberalize marijuana laws, Oregon voters will do so, with each new vote bringing the state closer to legalization. In an Oregon Business poll conducted in May, more than 80% of voters favored legalizing marijuana. Ben Jacklet is managing editor of Oregon Business.
|
Such a system would almost certainly result in a gold rush to tap into the growing market for legal weed, which has been From the Wires
Latest Comments
-
On being firm
Great post Tom. I agree with all of it. It's the boss's responsibility to set consistent rules and then enforce them fairly. It's what employees want and ... -
Q&A: Jack Joyce, co-founder and CEO, Rogue Ales
I worked for Rogue and would do so again. They are a great company IF you have a backbone. Are you intelligent? Can you do your job and not whine about ... -
IMF gives U.S. economy thumbs down
First, I agree with the first post – being required to subscribe to a paid publication to finish an article is outrageous. Second, this should be a ...
|
Real Time - LANE POWELL TWITTER FEED Tweets by @lanepowell |
Opinion Poll
Popular Articles
Recent News
Press Releases
Lane Powell Launches Formal Privacy and Data Security Practice Group
Lane Powell is proud to announce the formal launch of their Privacy and Data Security Practice Group, which was organized to better serve their clients in this increasingly popular area — an area their attorneys have been working in for years.
Bioscience complex will house six local companies in 2013
From Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute: OTRADI today announced its plans to open and operate a 13,000 square-foot multi-tenant bioscience complex in the Willamette Wharf building at 4640 SW Macadam Avenue. Slated to be complete in spring 2013, the OTRADI Bioscience Incubator (OBI) will house up to six companies.
Introducing HalfOffOregon.com
MEDIAmerica, publisher of Oregon Business and Oregon Home magazines, announces a new retail website: HalfOffOregon.com. The website offers lodging, dining, recreation and many other items at half off their regular cost.
The doors are open to Vernon's NEW Office location
As you probably know by now, The Vernon Company is a national leader in the promotional products industry with annual sales of over $60 million. We are a family owned business, led by the fourth generation of the Vernon family.
Comments
Oregon voters will also be able to create jobs and generate revenue for the state. State-licensed producers and dispensaries will provide new jobs and pay the state licensing fees as well as quarterly sums based upon gross revenue.
Oregon patients battling cancer shouldn't have to wait for a harvest or turn to the black market when undergoing chemotherapy. Passing this measure will help patients suffering through disease, illness and disability while creating jobs and generating revenue. Clearly a win-win. Please vote YES this November.
The current law requiring patients to produce their own medicine needs improvement. This initiative creating a well regulated dispensary system makes sense.
This is an important distinction from other states.
No other state has legal, regulated producers of medical cannabis for sale.
Producers in Oregon will be subject to regulations, quarterly reporting, criminal background checks, inspections and fees, both up front for the permit, and quarterly as a percentage of receipts.
They may be subject to zoning, permits to prove electric equipment is up to code, safety rules and anything else DHS determines is necessary for producers, and dispensaries to run legally and safely in appropriate places in our communities.
The same is true for dispensaries. They will be regulated.
One thing I think we will see is many small businesses starting up doing things like preparing medicated baked goods, tinctures or body care products.
Many businesses could expand their services:
Weekly delivered meals might include medicated food for patients.
Cannabis oil the[blocked]uti c massage is wonderful for sore muscles and body pain.
Farmers could add medical cannabis to their crops.
There will be plenty of cannabis stalks for fiber or mosquito repellent or press board.
The possibilities are limited by our imaginations and collective creativity.
I appreciate OB suggesting the transition may be inevitable.
I suggest it is inevitable.
We know medical cannabis works. We have tens of thousands of medical cannabis patients in Oregon and the program is growing.
I 28 gives us tools to manage the growth and to meet the needs of the growing medical cannabis population in a regulated way with oversight from DHS.
It gives us research, and it will create a program to ensure safe access to medical cannabis patients in Oregon regardless of their ability to pay, it is entirely self funded (as is the current OMMP, through yearly patient fees) and will generate revenue for the State.
Most importantly, it gets the medical cannabis patients and their money out of the back alleys and from behind grocery stores, into a legitimate, regulated, inspected dispensary to access their cannabis medicine.
Safe medicine.
Food subject to health department regulations.
Workers subject to criminal background checks and penalties for violations.
Medical cannabis patients' money becomes part of the above ground economy. That helps all of us.
Please do support I 28.
It is good for business in Oregon.
Thank you for listening,
Kristen Gustafson
Portland, Oregon
RSS feed for comments to this post