Oregon launches full retail marijuana program

Hood River has five legal marijuana shops including three downtown and one in the west Cascade business district; on the Heights, Evergreen Hood River opened over the weekend on 13th Street. A sixth dispensary on Westcliff Drive is in the early planning stage.

Since last October, medical marijuana dispensaries statewide have been allowed to sell limited amounts of their product to retail customers through a temporary program. Once licensed for recreational sales, the distinction will be mostly dissolved — retail customers will be able to buy more marijuana per day, and a wider variety of products.

The state sales tax for newly licensed retail marijuana is 17 percent — replacing the current 25 percent. On top of that is an optional local tax of up to 3 percent.

Hood River City Council decided to put the marijuana tax question on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Voters will decide whether to implement the 3 percent tax, which will be dedicated to public safety and education.

This weekend, OLCC activated a handful of recreational business licenses.

“It was really exciting,” Kirsten Cook, owner of Gorge Greenery, said of the dispensary’s busy first weekend under its new license. A rush of retail customers hit the shop, most of whom were curious to try out the expanded products.

A common misconception, Cook said, is that medical sales are going away. Patients with a medical card can buy the same products they previously have, with the tax waived.

“Nothing is changing for medical patients. All the recreational stores will be able to sell medical grade products,” she said.

At newly licensed outlets, adult customers 21 and over can buy up to an ounce of marijuana flower. The previous limit was a quarter-ounce. Cannabis-based edibles, formerly limited to one item per customer (a candy bar or cookie, for instance), now can be sold at a maximum of 16 ounces in solid form and 72 ounces in liquid form.

Lab standards, and pesticide testing rules, are changing. Out of the handful of labs approved for licensing around the state, Anova Laboratory in Hood River was among them.

Marijuana sold legally in Oregon had been tested before, but now labs must be accredited by OLCC, and the packaging has to be labeled with more detailed information.

The OLCC is also focusing on keeping names and labels on cannabis products from being attractive to children, such as “Girl Scout cookies,” an OLCC spokesman told reporters, according to the Associated Press.

Smoking or ingesting marijuana is still illegal in public, even on dispensary sales floors. Rules for private possession — one ounce of marijuana outside the home and four plants per household — won’t change with the new recreational marijuana transition.

Over the next few months, OLCC expects to license several hundred retailers in cities that have opted to allow retail marijuana, OLCC chair Rob Patridge said in a written statement.

Approved businesses will start operations after surrendering their Oregon Health Authority Oregon Medical Marijuana Program registration and paying a license fee to the OLCC. The medical dispensaries won’t be allowed to sell to recreational users after Dec. 31., wrapping up the OHA program completely.

“We will continue to educate ourselves and refine and reevaluate our rules and processes as the retail industry blossoms,” Patridge said. “I believe the near future will bring substantial policy, legal, and other challenges for the OLCC in regulating marijuana and we are up for the challenges.”