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US: Measure 80: Regulate cannabis, yea or nay? Yay: Marijuana should be an equivalent to alcohol Mike Mata The Advocate Friday 26 Oct 2012 http://www.advocate-online.net/opinion/column-opinion/measure-80-regulate-cannabis-yea-or-nay-2296/ Weed. Mary Jane. Pot, cannabis, ganja, grass, doobie and blunt. Aka marijuana. These words may bring many different images and emotions; however, they may soon become synonymous with “legal.” For those who may not have been following election news, Oregon has cannabis on the ballot with Measure 80, which would legalize its cultivation and use by adults 21 and older. A quick drive down Sandy Boulevard shows that Oregonians have a high interest in this particular pasttime, with medical marijuana offices and dispensaries on almost every block. Detractors have cited minors getting hold of it as a negative against the measure. Anyone who has gone through a public high school can attest to the anecdotal fact that minors can get their hands on marijuana regardless of its legal status. Proponents look to the oft-lauded stoner Promised Land of Amsterdam, where the sale and use of marijuana is legal in special “coffee shops,” as long as it is sold in amounts that don’t exceed five grams and only to customers age 18 and older and that the shops don’t advertise or cause a nuisance. The reason I’m in favor of passing Measure 80 is the regulation and the prospect of increased revenue for the state. The measure, if passed, would create the Oregon Cannabis Commission (OCC), whose duties would include licensing qualified marijuana growers, processors and packagers, licensing stores to sell both regular and medical marijuana, setting retail prices, collecting license fees and regulating quantity and retailers, among other aspects of marijuana production and sales. The money from the sales would first go to reimburse three different aspects of the fledgling industry: the OCC, the Attorney General’s office for the costs of enforcing and defending the measure’s actions, and a 15 percent return for the licensed retailers. A nonpartisan fiscal review that appears in the Nov. 6 Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet estimates the state would expend approximately $22 million each year on the OCC – same as annual current liquor control costs. However, the revenue brought in from the sale of marijuana would be distributed as follows: 90 percent to the state general fund, 7 percent to the Department of Human Resources to fund drug-treatment programs, 1 percent to fund a hemp committee for Oregon, 1 percent to promote biodiesel based on hemp and 1 percent to fund public school-sponsored drug education programs. In other words, Measure 80 would turn marijuana into an equivalent for alcohol and tobacco. It will be heavily regulated by the state, illegal for minors and provide much-needed revenue for the state. http://www.advocate-online.net/opinion/column-opinion/measure-80-regulate-cannabis-like-liquor-restore-agricultural-hemp-2289/
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