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Oregon medical marijuana dispensaries gear up for rec sales

Currently, just north of 200 medical marijuana dispensaries of Oregon’s 345 have put the OHA (Oregon Health Authority) on notice of their intention to sell recreational marijuana in the Beaver State, igniting legal sales on October 1, 2015 (this Thursday).

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Obviously, driving under the influence of marijuana remains illegal. To lure recreational users, Gras Cannabis has been advertising, including in two local alternative newspapers and on two giant billboards in the city. Recreational customers can buy up to a quarter-ounce of flower, as well as seeds and immature plants, but not edibles or concentrates. People would eat more milligrams of THC than was good for them, and got too high.

Measure 91 called for a tax on marijuana. At which point a 25 percent tax on retail sales will be applied.

With so many outlets for shoppers, it appears the debut of adult marijuana sales in Oregon might not have the same around-the-block lines that happened in Colorado on January 1, 2014, when there were about 40 shops open for the world’s first recreational sales, or in Washington state, when sales started there seven months later with about 20 shops.

4) There are limits, but no enforcement in place to prevent rules from being broken. However, if this is the case, then surely people who are now sitting in jail for doing the same thing should not be forced to continue their sentences for something that they should never have been prosecuted for in the first place.

“We’re really nervous. The dispensaries might sell all the marijuana to recreational people and the patients will be left without their medicine”, said Anthony Taylor, president of Compassionate Oregon, a nonprofit group that advocates for the patients, to the AP.

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5) Public consumption is not allowed at dispensaries. As a temporary stop-gap and to curb black market sales, medical dispensaries are allowed to conduct early sales of recreational marijuana tax-free.

Oregon start on Ocotber 1