Pubdate: Sun, 04 May 2014
Source: Bulletin, The (Bend, OR)
Copyright: 2014 Western Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.bendbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/62
Author: Hillary Borrud

142 OREGON CITIES AND 26 COUNTIES PASS CANNABIS BANS

New medical pot rules create a legal patchwork

Cities and counties across Oregon spent the past two months rushing to
adopt temporary bans on medical marijuana dispensaries, after a new
state law created a brief window for officials to pass the
moratoriums.

By the May 1 deadline, the map of cities and counties with moratoriums
on the retail outlets looked like a patchwork quilt spread across the
state: 142 of 242 cities and 26 of 36 counties had reported bans to
the Oregon Health Authority by Friday, and the agency expects to
continue receiving notices of more bans.

The moratoriums are supposed to provide time for communities to come
up with their own regulations for the location, business hours and
type of marijuana products sold, so even after the prohibitions
expire, the state probably will wind up with a hodgepodge of local
laws.

Mike McCauley, executive director of the League of Oregon Cities, said
Friday that municipalities across the state will be watching how the
newly licensed dispensaries operate in cities and counties without
moratoriums, such as Bend.

"Some cities will probably be discussing coming up with draft
proposals on time, place and manner restrictions," McCauley said,
referring to the hours of operation, location and type of marijuana
products. "And then there will probably be a few cities continuing to
explore how they might position themselves with respect to trying to
continue to ban them, if they want to ban them, or deal with them
through licensing."

The degree of local control remains a point of contention between some
municipal lawyers who believe cities and counties have the legal
authority to prohibit medical cannabis retail outlets, and other
officials including a lawyer for the Legislature, who wrote in a legal
opinion last year that state law pre-empts local regulations on the
pot facilities. Democratic and Republican lawmakers also differed on
the subject, with some Republicans favoring more local control.

Oregon is in the midst of the largest overhaul of its medical
marijuana laws since voters approved the substance for medical use in
1998. This includes House Bill 3460, which state lawmakers approved in
the 2013 legislative session, to legalize and regulate storefronts
where Oregon Medical Marijuana Program cardholders can purchase pot
and edible cannabis products. The law requires dispensary operators to
register with the state, purchase a license and make sure their
products are free of pesticides, mildew and mold. The Oregon Health
Authority is finalizing rules to put House Bill 3460 into practice,
and public hearings are scheduled around the state later this month,
Karynn Fish, an agency spokeswoman, said Friday.

There is also Senate Bill 1531, passed by the Legislature in March.
This law created the window for local governments to pass laws to ban
the dispensaries until May 2015 and required child-resistant packaging
for all pot-infused products sold at dispensaries. Fish said the state
plans to form a committee soon to begin working out the details to
implement the law. McCauley said the League of Oregon Cities plans to
push for more statewide regulations, such as criminal background
checks on all dispensary employees, not just the operator as currently
required.

Officials adopted moratoriums on pot dispensaries in La Pine, Redmond,
Prineville and other cities throughout Central Oregon, as well as the
unincorporated areas of Crook and Deschutes counties. Bend officials
decided to leave regulatory decisions to the state, and the city is
currently home to the largest cluster of legal cannabis stores outside
of Portland. City Manager Eric King said officials do not have plans
to discuss local medical marijuana regulations.

"I think there have been a few comments from (city councilors) at one
of their meetings about concern over some of the products and
attractiveness to kids," King said on Friday. "But it's just that. It
hasn't gone so far as to say, 'We'd like to regulate that.'"

Bend is not alone in its decision to leave medical marijuana
regulation to the state. At a League of Oregon Cities medical
marijuana workshop in Portland on Thursday, Eugene City Attorney Glenn
Klein said the City Council is not interested in passing an ordinance
on medical pot and "Eugene has done nothing -- and I mean literally
nothing -- related to this." Klein said he believes state law does not
pre-empt local governments' power to ban dispensaries, but the biggest
risk would be the cost of defending city regulations if a dispensary
operator decided to file a lawsuit.

The situation is quite different over the mountains.

Take La Pine, where the City Council adopted a moratorium.

La Pine City Manager Rick Allen said two people were interested in
opening medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, but city
councilors were adamant they wanted to adopt a moratorium and then
eventually adopt local restrictions on the businesses. City councilors
were concerned it would be easier for children to purchase marijuana
once adults could buy it at a dispensary, and "the other thing (city
councilors) felt was this medical marijuana card is basically a sham,"
Allen said.

Jeremy Green, a lawyer who represents the cities of La Pine, Madras,
Prairie City, John Day, Burns and Monument, said several of the cities
chose to adopt moratoriums. Some cities had already used other means
to prohibit marijuana storefronts: Madras' business license program
requires companies to comply with federal law, which outlaws
marijuana, while John Day's land use code "doesn't allow activity that
would violate federal law," Green said. Other cities across the state,
including Gresham, have used their business license programs to
prohibit pot dispensaries. Bend's business license application does
not ask whether the company will comply with state and federal law.

Green said officials in many small towns are interested in adopting
regulations on medical pot stores, but they are waiting for larger
municipalities to jump in first. He expects that pot dispensaries will
file legal challenges to local regulations.

"I think a lot of cities are kind of hoping the bigger cities utilize
their resources to develop those," Green said. "And then the smaller
cities will look at what's being developed."

- - Lily Raff McCaulou contributed to this report.
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MAP posted-by: Matt