Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2012
Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times (OR)
Copyright: 2012 Lee Enterprises
Contact: https://gazettetimes-dot-com.bloxcms.com/app/forms/contact/letters/
Website: http://www.gazettetimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2976
Author: Canda Fuqua

MEASURE 80 WOULD LEGALIZE POT, ALLOW RESEARCH

If Oregonians pass Measure 80 in the November election, the state 
would legalize marijuana for adults, but more importantly to Todd 
Dalotto, it would open the doors for medical research on the plant.

"If it's free from legal roadblocks, then patients can benefit 
greatly from the research that takes place in horticulture, in 
medicine," Dalotto said Monday in front of the City Club of 
Corvallis. "Unfortunately, clinical research is hindered to a 
prohibitive degree, mainly because of federal prohibition."

Dalotto, a longtime cannabis horticultural researcher and president 
of CAN! Research, Education and Consulting in Corvallis, offered his 
take on Measure 80 to the group on Monday. Sandee Burbank, executive 
director of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse, also spoke in favor of 
the measure at the club's monthly meeting.

If passed, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would create a commission that 
would license growers, buy and sell the product, and test it for 
quality assurance. Adults, ages 21 and older, would be able to 
legally purchase cannabis from state-run stores or grow it, 
unregulated, for personal use.

In his presentation, Dalotto explained that each strain of the plant 
contains different properties. With more research, scientists will be 
able to isolate the parts of the plant, on a molecular level, that 
contain positive medicinal values and breed out negative properties, he said.

Currently, however, researchers must get the go-ahead from multiple 
federal agencies before studying marijuana - a nearly impossible 
undertaking, he said.

Burbank spoke to the group about the need for more accurate education 
about drugs, including the potential harm of over-the-counter and 
legally prescribed medicine, alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana, she 
believes, has medicinal value and is much less harmful than some 
legal drugs. In 1982, her organization declared that marijuana laws 
were "inequitable, ineffective, unenforceable and counterproductive."

Attendees questioned how the new legislation would affect black 
market demand for marijuana. Burbank and Dalotto believe it would be curtailed.

"The reason it's so profitable is because of prohibition, because 
it's unregulated," Dalotto said.

The speakers also touched on the benefits of legalizing the 
cultivation of cannabis to produce hemp, a product with multiple uses 
that can be made into fabric and rope. It requires less fertilizer 
and water and produces four times the amount of fiber that trees do, 
Dalotto said.

Hemp production would provide Oregon with an economically friendly 
export crop, he added.

If the legislation should pass, one attendee asked, how would the 
federal government - which classifies marijuana as a dangerous drug - respond?

"There would be significant challenges from the feds," Dalotto said, 
"but the measure does provide revenue to fund the attorney general's 
defense of this, and that's fully anticipated."

Revenue from licenses would pay administrative costs of the 
commission, and 90 percent of the remaining money would be placed in 
the state's general fund. The remaining 10 percent would be split 
among funds for related uses, such as drug education and research grants.

The City Club invited the Corvallis Police Department to offer a 
differing opinion on the measure, but the department declined.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom