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Forget the OLCC. Or at least, put it on hold. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission will have until the end of 2016 to figure out what it wants to do about selling recreational cannabis. Until then, retail weed sales will be regulated by the lesser-known Oregon Health Authority, which runs medical dispensaries. Here's an overview of the rules in effect until Jan. 1, 2017.
Medical dispensaries may sell recreational weed as of Oct. 1. Medical dispensaries that check in with the state may begin selling cannabis seeds, up to four juvenile plants and up to 7 grams of dry, smokable bud to any adult over the age of 21. That's per day, per store.
You may have an ounce on you in the street. After you've bought at one dispensary, you may legally buy at another and another, up to a personal possession limit of 1 ounce in public. At home, you may have up to 8 ounces.
Sales of nonmedical edibles and extracts are on hold until at least 2017. You can make cannabutter and bake your own brownies, but you may not buy or sell them recreationally. If you want recreational shatter, you'll need butane and a lighter.
You may consume cannabis only in private places. A "private place" may be a house with the blinds drawn, or it may be a membership-only club like the World Famous Cannabis Cafe on Southeast Foster Road.
You may give away personal weed, but not sell it. The rules about weed samples handed out by growers are still hazy. According to Steve Wagner at the OHA, a grower may give away marijuana from personal plants only, not from his authorized medical grow. Dispensaries may not give away weed samples outside the dispensary, and OMMP patients technically may not give bud to nonpatients.
You have until jan. 4, 2016, to buy tax-free. Until the end of 2015, weed costs the same for medical patients and recreational tokers. After Jan. 4, expect a 25 percent sales tax charged only to recreational users. This tax will be repealed at the end of 2016, when a 17 percent sales tax will be imposed on OLCC-regulated dispensaries.
Counties and cities may ban weed. If the honorary Idahoans of Malheur County want to ban marijuana growers and retailers, they may do so. Just one more reason not to visit scenic Ontario.
You'll get some education. Every pot customer will get a little information card. Not only that, shops will be required to post "Educate Before You Recreate" posters alongside signs warning of the dangers of marijuana poisoning and smoking while pregnant. Each dispensary must have a sign out front stating whether it offers recreational sales or medical sales only. This must be stated in bold, 80-point Times New Roman font.
Big Brother wants to know your birthday.
Recreational shops will record the customer's birthdate along with the sale price and date of sale of all weed. But not your name. If they ask for your name, you don't have to reveal it.
Everything will be different next year.
The retail rules are in place until Dec. 31, 2016. Then, the OLCC is expected to take over, with new rules. We don't know what they will be.
Willamette Week