Oregonians Will Decide Whether to Legalize Marijuana This Year

Today
the supporters of an Oregon initiative aimed at legalizing
marijuana for recreational use
submitted signatures from 145,710 voters—”more than enough,”
according to the campaign, to qualify the
measure for the ballot this November. That makes Oregon the second
state, after
Alaska, that could follow the example set by Colorado and
Washington in 2012 by legalizing marijuana this year.

The
Oregon initiative, known as the Control, Regulation, and
Taxation of Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Act, combines elements of
Colorado’s Amendment 64
and Washington’s I-502.
Like both of those initiatives, it would allow adults 21 and older
to purchase and possess in public up to an ounce of marijuana at a
time. Like Amendment 64, it allows nonprofit transfers of up to an
ounce.

The Oregon measure bans marijuana consumption in any
“public place,” defined as “a place to which the general public has
access.” By comparison, Colorado prohibits “consumption that is
conducted openly and publicly,” while Washington forbids
consumption “in view of the general public,” both of which seem to
cover less ground. Like Colorado (and unlike Washington), Oregon’s
initiative allows home cultivation, but with stricter limits: up to
four plants and eight ounces of usable marijuana per household,
compared to six plants and whatever amount they produce per adult
in Colorado.

The Oregon initiative takes a different approach to taxation
than Colorado or Washington, both of which imposed levies based on
a percentage of wholesale and retail prices. Oregon’s initiative
instead would impose taxes on cannabusinesses based on weight: $35
per ounce of buds and $10 per ounce of leaves, plus $5 per immature
plant.

One distinct advantage of the Oregon initiative is that it
would not change the standard for driving under the influence of
intoxicants (DUII, a.k.a. DUID). Under current law, convicting
someone of DUII requires
showing that he was “affected to a noticeable degree” by
marijuana or another controlled substance, based
on the “totality of the circumstances.” By contrast,
Washington’s current rule, established by I-502, says any driver
whose blood contains five or more nanograms of THC per milliliter
is automatically guilty of DUID, a standard that in effect
prohibits
driving by many daily consumers, including patients who use
marijuana as a medicine, even when they are not actually impaired.
Amendment 64 did not directly change Colorado’s DUID law, but after
it passed the state legislature approved a law that created a
“rebuttable
presumption” of DUID at five nanograms, which in practice
may have the same impact as Washington’s law. Oregon’s initiative
instead instructs the state Liquor Control Commission, which as in
Washington would be charged with regulating the newly legal
cannabis industry, to study “the influence of marijuana on the
ability of a person to drive a vehicle” and advise the legislature
on whether changing Oregon’s DUII rule is appropriate.

A previous Oregon legalization initiative failed in 2012,
when 53 percent of voters said no to Measure
80. A recent
Survey USA poll put support for legalization in Oregon at 51
percent, with 41 percent opposed and 8 percent undecided. In
Alaska, where voters will consider a legalization measure in
August, a March poll commissioned by the Alaska House Majority
Caucus found that 52 percent of voters favored it.