Oregon Senate tightens regulation on Medical Marijuana
Posted by Sagar Satapathy on May 28, 2015.
In a bid to curb diversions of pot to the black market, the Oregon Senate passed a legislation 964 to alter the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP). The bill passed a full Senate vote 29-1. The only Senator to vote against the bill was Floyd Prozanski. The Senate delivered a powerful message in support of tightening regulation on medical marijuana.
The Senate Bill 964 limits the number of plants allowed on medical marijuana farms and requires regular reporting by growers. In urban areas, people can grow just 12 plants while those outside cities would be limited to 48 plants. The silver line for the existing growers in both urban and outside the city limits is that they could have twice as many plants, but only to serve their existing customer base.
Section 70 of the Bill states, "the governing body of a city or county may adopt ordinances that prohibit the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries or marijuana processing sites in the area subject to the jurisdiction of the city or county.”
Section 6 of the legislation states that the Oregon Health Authority must get a monthly report on "number of mature and immature marijuana plants, the amount of marijuana leaves and flowers being dried, and the amount of usable marijuana, in the person’s possession” as well as ” the number of mature and mature marijuana plants, and the amount of usable marijuana, that the person transfers to each registry identification cardholder for whom the person produces marijuana.” The report also has to contain the ” amount of usable marijuana that the person transfers to each marijuana processing site: and…to each medical marijuana dispensary.”
Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland said, "Oregon now produces an estimated $1 billion a year of "largely black market medical marijuana that ends up all over the country". This bill is aimed at putting an end to this practice.
