Liquor Control Commission Releases Draft of Marijuana Rules
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Monday, October 12, 2015
GoLocalPDX News Team
Temporary rules for recreational marijuana growth and sale released by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission this week would force applicants for legal pot shops and other cannabis businesses to submit to criminal background checks.
The temporary rules for those hoping to apply to open a marijuana business will be voted on by the Commission on October 22, after a period of review and public comment. The Commission stressed that these are just a first draft and shouldn’t be considered by industry professionals to be “the basis for business decisions.”
The 70-page document issued by the Commission lays out the rules and regulations for every area of the state’s newest industry, including production, wholesale, processing, retail sales and even home delivery.
Under the draft rules, applicants for any marijuana business would have to allow state officials to take a detailed look at their business plan. Business owners would be required to submit floor plans and operating details including security precautions, employee training, and qualification, and proposed electrical and water usage.
Those who apply for producer licenses must also tell the Commission how it plans to grow marijuana, including whether they plan to grow indoors or outdoors, what equipment they will be using and proof of water rights.
More Rules Coming?
More rules could be added to the already published list, which is considered a work in progress. The Commission held a hearing on Friday, where more than 100 residents showed up to raise their concerns about marijuana legalization.
Dr. Ben Hoffman and Dr. Thomas Valvano, both pediatricians at OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital asked the Commission to consider heavily regulating marijuana edibles and the ways they are packaged, citing the potential for confusion or abuse.
Hoffman also called for heavy taxation of marijuana so prices would remain “artificially high,” citing research that has proven that raising prices for alcohol and tobacco results in less consumer demand.
He also told the Commission should strictly enforce laws surrounding the production and sale of marijuana with frequent audits and inspections, along with “stiff penalties for transgressions.”
Related Slideshow: 20 Things You Need to Know About Buying Pot in Oregon
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Employers Still Can—And Will—Drug Test
Many of the state’s largest employers, including Fred Meyer, Intel, Bi-Mart and Dairy Queen, will still test for marijuana, despite its new legal status. Companies that employ heavy equipment operators are required to buy insurance, and typically require drug testing.
Often, even companies that employ workers who operate machinery while simultaneously employing workers who do not will test, as the company will receive a lower monthly deductible if they test all of their employees across the board.
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Only a Quarter-Ounce per Customer, Please
Dispensaries will only be allowed to sell a quarter-ounce of marijuana per customer, per day. Residents are allowed different amounts for travel and home storage.
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Child Proof Packaging
Dispensaries, in addition to their limits on sales per person, also must package their recreational marijuana in a particular way. It must be placed in an opaque bag that is smell and child-proof.
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Can I Grow Cannabis at My House?
Those with a green thumb will be permitted to grow their own marijuana for private consumption. They are only allowed four plants per person, however, and each must be obscured from public view.
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How Much Can I Have at My House?
Residents will be allowed to keep plenty of dry marijuana (flowers or leaves that are ready to be smoked) in their home. They are allowed to store eight ounces, more than thirty times the purchasing limits, in their home.
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How Much Can I Travel With?
Traveling restrictions are stricter than regulations for home storage. Adults are able to travel with up to one ounce, or four times the purchase limit, on their person.
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Driving Under the Influence
Unlike the Washington law, which included attached regulations concerning driving impairment, Oregon’s law has more room for interpretation.
Driving under the influence of marijuana is classified as a Class B Traffic Violation, which carries a presumptive fine of $260 and is not to exceed maximum fine of $2,000. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has been tasked with researching the subject of drugged driving and presenting its finding to the Oregon Legislative Assembly no later than January 2017.
After reviewing the OLCC report, the state legislative assembly will decide whether passing more extensive driving regulations will be necessary.
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No Smoking in Public
Yes, marijuana is legal. No, that does not mean you can light up in the middle of the street. Consumption is only allowed out of the public view.
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Where will the New Tax Money Go?
Where will the tax money go?
Measure 91, the ballot measure passed last year that legalized marijuana in Oregon, stipulates that the tax revenue collected from recreational sales will be divided up in the following ways:
40 percent- Common School Fund
20 percent- Mental Health Alcoholism and Drug Services
15 percent- Oregon State Police
10 percent- Counties for enforcement of the measure
10 percent- Cities for enforcement of the measure
5 percent- Oregon Health Authority for drug abuse prevention
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Where You Can Buy Marijuana
Already licensed medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to sell recreationally beginning on October 1, although not every dispensary will sell recreationally.
For a full list of those that have been approved to sell to the public, click here.
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Not Everywhere
While marijuana is now legal for recreational use in the state of Oregon, some individual communities have passed laws banning recreational marijuana facilities from opening. Consumption will still be legal in these areas, but sales will not.
For a full list of cities that have passed these bans, click here.
Photo: Downtown Baker City; via Wikimedia Commons
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What to Do at a Dispensary
First time at a dispensary? No worries, said Meghan Walstatter, Owner of Pure Green Dispensary. Just ask plenty of questions to staff to ease all of your concerns.
Photo: Pure Green Dispensary
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Budtenders-Bartenders for Weed
Have questions as you make your purchase? No problem, just ask your friendly budtender. The cannabis industry’s answer to bartenders, budtenders are knowledgeable about the different strains and types of marijuana and their effects and are ready and eager to help novice smokers.
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Cannabis Indica
Indica, along with its sister sativa, are one of the two main types of cannabis. Each has their own unique effects on its user. Indica strains are known for relieving physical pain and giving users a sleepy, lethargic feeling.
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Cannabis Sativa
Sativa strains are the counter to indica strains.They are known for as a more mental stimulation, giving users more creative and sometimes, more focus
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Hybrids
The best of both worlds. At least, that’s what hybrids claim to be. They combine the properties of an indica strain and a sativa strain, by allowing users to feel relaxed, but not sleepy.
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Bring Cash
While some dispensaries do accept credit card, most do not, according to Leah Maurer, Co-chair of Women’s Grow. Make sure to bring some cash if you plan to purchase some cannabis today.
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How to Store your Cannabis
Concerned about storing your new marijuana in your home around your family? Maurer said to store it as you would alcohol or prescription drugs, away from the reach of children and teenagers.
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Don’t Cross State Lines
It will still be illegal to transport marijuana across state lines. That restriction even includes those crossing the Columbia River into Washington, where marijuana is also legal. Marijuana is classified as a Scheduled I controlled substance, meaning that anyone transporting it across line is prosecutable by Federal agencies
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Make Sure to Talk to Your Kids
It's likely that children and young adults will see more cannabis, and cannabis consumption, now that recreational sales have begun. Maurer said to make sure you have an honest, frank conversation about the benefits and consequences of the substance.
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