Pubdate: Sun, 02 Nov 2014
Source: Concord Monitor (NH)
Copyright: 2014 Monitor Publishing Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/WbpFSdHB
Website: http://www.concordmonitor.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/767
Author: Alison Vekshin, Bloomberg News

RECREATIONAL POT WOULD GROW TO OREGON, ALASKA IF VOTERS APPROVE

Oregon and Alaska voters will decide whether to legalize marijuana 
this week under proposals to make them the third and fourth U.S. 
states to allow the drug's recreational use.

The measures on the Tuesday ballots would permit those at least 21 
years old to buy and possess marijuana for personal use, joining 
consumers in Colorado and Washington state.

"Thousands of adults would no longer be punished for using a 
substance that is objectively less harmful than alcohol," said Mason 
Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a 
Washington-based advocacy group. "If these measures pass, it will be 
two more states in which it's sold in legitimate businesses instead 
of the underground market."

Colorado began recreational marijuana sales in January, followed by 
Washington state in July. Voters in both states legalized the 
practice in 2012. In Florida, voters next week will decide whether to 
allow its medical use, which is already legal in 23 states, according 
to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice 
Department said last year that it wouldn't challenge state 
legalization, provided authorities prevent out-of-state distribution, 
access to minors and drugged driving, among other things.

Oregon voters, who in 2012 rejected a similar measure, will be asked 
to direct the state Liquor Control Commission to adopt rules by 
January 2016 to supervise sales of recreational marijuana. The 
measure would allow personal possession of as much as 1 ounce away 
from home, if it's out of public view, and as much as 8 ounces at home.

Marijuana producers would be taxed at a rate of $35 per ounce on 
flowers and $10 on leaves in Oregon, in contrast with Washington, 
where a levy of 25 percent is applied at the producer, processor and 
retailer levels.

"An early tax is harder to get around," said Peter Zuckerman, a 
spokesman for the Oregon campaign to pass the initiative. Taxing by 
weight "will be a more stable tax."

Legal marijuana would generate an estimated $16 million in revenue in 
fiscal 2017, according to a report released in September by the 
Oregon Legislative Revenue Office. The funds would pay for licensing 
and regulating the industry, with remaining money going to schools, 
substance-abuse treatment, state police and local enforcement of the measure.

The "Yes on 91" campaign advocating the Oregon measure has collected 
$3.1 million in cash contributions, according to campaign finance 
records at the Oregon Secretary of State.

Opponents with the "No on 91" campaign have collected $178,355 in 
cash contributions, including $100,000 from the Oregon State 
Sheriffs' Association.

Among likely voters, 44 percent supported the measure while 46 
percent opposed it, according to an Oct. 26-27 survey of 403 people 
conducted for The Oregonian and KGW. The results are within the 
margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

In Alaska, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board would set regulations 
to oversee the industry. The legislature would have the option to 
create a Marijuana Control Board to take on that role. The measure 
limits marijuana possession to one ounce and imposes a $50-per-ounce 
excise tax on sales from a grower to a retailer or marijuana product 
maker. Consumption in public would remain illegal and subject to a $100 fine.

In Alaska, the least densely populated state, supporters in the 
Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol reported campaign 
donations of $867,394 since January, according to data from the 
Alaska Public Offices Commission. An opposition group called "Big 
Marijuana, Big Mistake, Vote No on 2" has collected $97,046 since 
April, the data showed.

"This initiative is about commercializing and industrializing a 
harmful drug," said Charles Fedullo, a spokesman for the opposition 
campaign. "Alaska has substance abuse problems across the state. 
Adding another unhealthy product to that list does not help move our 
state forward."

Lacy Wilcox, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Revenue, said 
the state hasn't prepared an estimate of taxes it could collect on pot.

"It is only understood that the tax rate be $50 per ounce at the 
wholesale level of sale," she said. "We cannot quantify what that 
would look like as far as volume, therefore we cannot project or 
predict what the realities will be if the initiative passes."

Washington is collecting $7.3 million in excise taxes on $29.1 
million in marijuana sales from July through Oct. 26, according to 
state Liquor Control Board data. Before the vote to legalize the drug 
two years ago, state officials projected tax revenue of as much as 
$1.9 billion from July 2013 through June 2017.

Colorado collected $29.8 million in tax revenue from recreational 
marijuana from January through August, or about $3.7 million a month, 
trailing last year's state estimate of $5.5 million to $8.9 million a month.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom