A marijuana infused chocolate bar retails for $25 after tax at 420Ville in Huntington, Oregon.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
Oregon has a patchwork of pot laws.
So if you buy some then drive across city or county lines, are you going to get in trouble for not following the rules of the new jurisdiction?
“Possession of a certain amount is legal. Use is legal,” said Oregon Sen. Ted Ferrioli, a John Day Republican. “Nothing in the prohibition of cannabis outlets would prevent people from still accessing, using and possessing. So it’s a kind of soft prohibition, not an absolute ban.”
Ferrioli said it’s the buying and selling of marijuana that’s complicated by the patchwork of laws in Oregon’s 36 counties and 214 cities.
But that patchwork is OK with him.
“That if you remember was the same curve on which Oregonians eventually removed prohibitions on alcohol," he said.
Indeed, most Oregon cities have allowed liquor for decades. But it wasn’t until 2002 that Monmouth voters decided to allow it.
Hines City Administrator, Judy Erwin, was impressed with pot sales in Huntington. Hines voters will decide this election whether to allow local pot sales and tax it.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
Two years ago, Oregon voters made recreational marijuana legal. But local governments get to decide on the time, manner and place of sales. Most counties in eastern and southern Oregon decided not to allow sales at all. But some towns in the state's rural stretches bucked the county and allowed marijuana.
One example: Huntington, a small Baker County community that allowed a recreational marijuana dispensary — 420Ville — to set up shop.
420Ville now generates more than $100,000 a month in new tax revenue, a sum that’s caught the attention of other small cities.
Hines city administrator Judy Erwin recently drove from her Harney County community to Huntington to take a look.
“I think everybody was pretty impressed about what they learned,” she said.
Now a couple of pot businesses have rented buildings in Hines. They're hoping residents vote to allow cannabis sales next week.
What do those residents think?
“I think if they tax cigarettes and stuff, we may as well tax that too,” said retired logging trucker Steve Weeks.
Hines resident Maria Iturriaga feels pot is still illegal and doesn't want to see it sold in her town.
Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB
He voted against allowing recreational pot sales in Oregon.
"But it's here," he said of the prospect of Hines allowing dispensaries. "It’s not going to be stopped. That’s for sure.”
Retired government employee Maria Iturriaga doesn't want her children exposed to marijuana and thus is against sales in Hines.
“I don’t know," she said. "I know in Oregon it’s allowed but ... I don’t think it’s good for the people.”
The League of Oregon Cities says 99 jurisdictions have measures on next week’s ballot to allow marijuana sales and to add a local tax. Just about the same number are trying to block sales.
Gilliam County is trying a more balanced approach: It’s floating one measure to prohibit pot sales and another to tax them if prohibition fails.
MAP: Oregon Cities And Counties Prohibiting Recreational Marijuana Businesses
As of November 2016, the following cities or counties have opted to prohibit licensed recreational marijuana producers, processors, wholesalers and/or retailers, according to the OLCC. Several of them have their bans up for public vote in the November general election.