Sowing the Seeds of Change

Welcome to our germination.

BUSINESS INDUSTRY CULTURE CULTIVATION HEALTH & WELLNESS

ISSUE 1 - SEPT 2014

Sowing the Seeds of Change

Welcome to our germination.Welcome to our germination.Welcome to our germination.Welcome to our germination.Welcome to our germination.Welcome to our germination.Welcome to our germination.Welcome to our germination.

the founding fathersof hemp

marijuana and the NFL

oregon in transition

what’s yourfavorite color?

Andrew Sullivan Keynote Speaker Renowned international journalist with the most popular blog on the internet, The Dish, with more subscribers than any other exclusively-online journalism site

Ed Rosenthal Cannabis guru and author

Tom Burns Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Director of Pharmacy Programs/Medical Marijuana Dispensary Program

Steve DeAngelo Executive Director of Harborside Health Center in Oakland, California, Steve is a cannabis industry leader, movement strategist and lifelong activist

U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer Authored a report in early 2013 called “The Path Forward: Rethinking Federal Marijuana Policy”

Laura Blanco de León Serves as President of the Association of Cannabis Studies of Uruguay

Senator Floyd Prozanski Sponsor of the Dispensary Bill and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee

Representative Peter Buckley Co-Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Sponsor of Dispensary Bill, Member of OHA Rules Committee on Dispensaries

Colorado. Washington. Uruguay. Oregon? Who’s Next?

The conference starts with a keynote speech by Andrew Sullivan, a lively and very informed journalist who left Newsweek to trail blaze his own path on his blog, The Dish, which has more subscribers than any other exclusively online journalism site and is ranked by Playboy as the top political blog in America. We’re excited to see what Sully has to say about all the recent changes in regards to the mainstream acceptance of legal cannabis use and production.

U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer will be on hand to discuss the long overdue work to reform federal marijuana laws, along with Oregon’s own Peter Buckley from the House of Representatives and Floyd Prozanski from the Oregon Senate.

Lest we forget this is an international conference, with attendees from all over the globe, we are also proud to have Laura Blanco de León, President of the Association of Cannabis Studies of Uruguay, as well as Phillipe Lucas, Vice President of Patient Research and Services at Tilray, Canada’s premiere marijuana dispensary.

We are also honored to have Steve DeAngelo, Executive Director of Harborside Health Center in Oakland, California and the star of the Discovery Channel mini series, “Weed Wars”.

Finally, don’t miss out on our speaker luncheons, with keynote speaker Andrew Sullivan and cannabis guru Ed Rosenthal. This is your chance to meet and greet the top experts in the industry. Also, there will be numerous vendors from the cannabis industry with the latest products and innovations for all of your business needs. Check them out during one of the breaks.

The conference continues with a host of speakers from across the globe that will provide you with real-world experience that can benefit any entrepreneur or business.

Andrew Sullivan Keynote Speaker Renowned international journalist with the most popular blog on the internet,

Colorado. Washington. Uruguay. Oregon? Who’s Next?

TomBurns

U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer

Laura Blanco de León

RepresentativePeter Buckley

EdRosenthal

AndrewSullivan Senator

Floyd Prozanski SteveDeAngelo

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These are exciting transitional times in Oregon as we move from unregulated medical distribution through regulated medical distribution to legalization and regulated responsible adult use. Here are the details.

Since the passage of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (a registry identification card law) in 1998, Oregon activists have been searching for a lawful, rational means of distributing cannabis to those who need it therapeutically. Initially, the law allowed possession away from the garden of only 1 ounce and (then and now) prohibited use (including transfer) in public and transfers to non- cardholders specifically and to any one, cardholder or not, ‘for consideration’. Advocates concluded that distribution of less than an ounce, for free, between cardholders was protected by the OMMA and would host gatherings where there would be enough patients to make the transfers protected.

In 2005, this patient-to-patient transfer for free was codified as ‘not delivery’ and growers were permitted to receive reimbursement from their patient ‘for the costs of supplies and utilities only and no other costs, including labor’. Advocates broadly read this to create a right for any patient (or their caregiver) to reimburse any grower and farmers markets and dispensaries arose to facilitate these transfers.

These facilities were either left alone (Multnomah (Portland), Deschutes (Bend) and Marion (Salem) counties, for example) or raided and shut down (Washington (west of Portland; silicon forest), Jackson (Medford and southern end of I-5) and Malheur (SE Oregon at I-84 Idaho border). These prosecutions are almost all concluded and suffice it to say, for the most part, prosecutors recognized the historical times and, for example and again for the most part, the most highly publicized of these prosecutions resulted, for the most part, in misdemeanor convictions.

As the numbers of these facilities were expanding, advocates were working to legitimize them. In 2003 and again in 2010, initiatives qualified for the ballot to create a licensed and regulated medical distribution system only to be defeated at the polls. Finally, in 2013, the Oregon Legislature enacted and in August 2013 the governor signed into law HB3460.

HB3460 allows medical marijuana patients (who own all the medicine cultivated on their behalf) to authorize the grower to transfer the medicinal cannabis (in whatever usable form) to a licensed medical marijuana facility. The facility (dispensary) is allowed to fully reimburse the grower, and is in turn, allowed to be fully reimbursed by the patient or his or her caregiver. Rules implementing HB3460 were finalized earlier this year and on March 3rd, the Oregon Health Authority began to accept applications. The main limitations are that they can’t be within 1,000 feet of a school or 1,000 feet of each other. Municipalities reacted in different way. Areas that had previously tolerated unlicensed and unregulated dispensaries continued to do so; municipalities (and some counties) did not.

The municipalities and counties intolerant of (and in some cases actually bigoted against) the regulated distribution of medicinal cannabis, either amended business ordinance (by requiring compliance with federal law and enforcing this only as to the state lawful distribution of medical cannabis) by enacting moratoriums on dispensaries. This inevitably lead to litigation which, in turn, caused the Oregon League of Cities and Association of Counties (who, along with the Sheriffs Association, Chiefs of Police and the Oregon District Attorneys Association, remain the organized prohibitionists in Oregon) to

successfully lobby the 2014 Legislature to pass a bill allowing moratoriums, so long as they were enacted before May 1, 2014 and sunset by May 1, 2015. They have announced that they intend to seek to make this permanent in the 2015 Legislative session.

So what’s going on right now in Oregon? Two things.

First, litigation seeking to have HB3460 declared unconstitutional as pre-empted by the federal Controlled Substances Act. These cases are principally in Southern Oregon trial courts (Josephine (Grants Pass) and Jackson (Medford) Counties) and are destined to be resolved in the Oregon Supreme Court within the next several years.

The second is the collection of signatures, for three responsible adult use legalization and tax and regulate initiative measures. One is a constitutional personal rights initiative; the second is a re-working of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (the initiative narrowly defeated in 2012); and the third is the initiative which is well drafted and well-funded and likely both to get on the ballot and pass – New Approach Oregon.

Notwithstanding its ill-chosen name choice, this initiative builds on, and fixes some of the problems with New Approach Washington’s I-502 and incrementally moves reform forward towards real legalization. We leave the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act alone, as well as Oregon’s DUII law. We allow home gardens (smaller than Colorado’s 6 plants and all you can grow) of 4 plants and 8 ounces, and also allow, at home, 72 ounces of liquid infused, 32 ounces of solid infused, and one ounce of oil. 4 times these limits are a misdemeanor (which is why it is decriminalization and not legalization; legalization would be limited to a non-criminal fine). It would allow our Liquor Control Commission a year to come up with regulations for Production, Processing, Wholesaling and Retailing for responsible adult (over 21) use. It would tax production at $35/oz. for the flowers, $10/oz. for the leaf and $5 for a starter plant. As Oregon has no sales tax, and assuming no legislative changes, these would be the only changes.

Regarding taxes, we make it more difficult for municipalities or counties to opt out by having tax benefits attach to having dispensaries in their communities, and, if they opt out, it automatically is referred to the people for a referendum.

Which is to say we are going as far forward as we politically can, leaving it to California in 2016 to take us the rest of the way home.

Leland R. Bergeris an attorney who practices statewide in Oregon from his office in inner

NE Portland, where he, and his legal assistant/office manager Leia Flynn, operate as Oregon CannaBusiness Compliance Counsel, LLC. Mr. Berger is a High Times Magazine Freedom Fighter of the Month, NORML Citizen

Activist of the Year and Oregon Cannabis Industry Association Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

This Article originally published in Marijuana Venture Magazine

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Sowing the Seeds of Change

Welcome to our germination.

BUSINESS INDUSTRY CULTURE CULTIVATION HEALTH & WELLNESS

ISSUE 1 - SEPT 2014

the founding fathersof hemp

marijuana and the NFL

oregon in transition

what’s yourfavorite color?

Welcome to our germination. Welcome to our germination. Welcome to our germination. Welcome to our germination. Welcome to our germination. Welcome to our germination. Welcome to our germination. Welcome to our germination.ISSUE 1 - SEPT 2014

the founding fathers marijuana and the NFL

in transitionwhat’s your

favorite color?