Oregon Legislature's Joint Committee Approves Weed Sales to All Adults Starting Oct. 1

FRONT AVENUE MEDICINALS
By AARON MESH

Recreational weed is legal next Wednesday. You can buy a quarter-ounce in October.

The Oregon Legislature's joint committee on marijuana this morning amended a bill so that medical marijuana dispensaries can sell pot to all adults starting Oct. 1.

The amendment allows anyone over 21 to buy a quarter-ounce of weed at a medical dispensary. The legislation now heads to votes in the full Senate and House.

The amendment is a swerve away from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's plan to license recreational pot stores to open in the fall of 2016. But it's also a compromise that falls short of a proposal by Sen. Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day), who wanted medical weed dispensaries to sell buds to anyone over 21 starting July 1.

Earlier this month, Ferrioli told WW that marijuana won't really be legal without a place to purchase it.

"I want a legal outlet for people to exercise their legal right," Ferrioli says. "If you don't have places to buy, that's an incentive to use the black market. None of this is rocket science."

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