OPB reporter Amelia Templeton explores the supply and demand of Oregon's pot market.
This week Oregon voters chose to legalize recreational pot and to direct the Oregon Liquor Control Commission to draw up rules to regulate it.
But Measure 91 gave the OLCC no guidance on a key question the state has to answer setting up its new pot market. What should happen to Oregon’s sprawling medical marijuana program, which has supplied Oregonians with pot for more than a decade?
Almost 70,000 people have medical marijuana patient cards in Oregon. That’s about two percent of the adult population. The state charges a $200 fee for the card; less if you can show you’re a veteran or low income.
Many medical marijuana cardholders turned out on election night to celebrate legalization at the Measure 91 campaign party. “Out of the closet smokers are going to be coming out of the woodwork.” That’s medical card holder Josh Cohen.
“I do have my aches and pains and go to acupuncture and massage. Having access to high quality flowers and oil has helped me in my life.”
So, will Cohen give up his medial card when pot is legally available in Oregon for recreational use, starting next July? “I think maybe I will keep it just as a safety blanket.”
Q & A: What Marijuana Lessons Might Oregon Learn From Washington?
Cohen sees a couple advantages to hanging on to his card. It allows him to own more marijuana plants beyond the four permitted by Measure 91. And Cohen has another reason. He’s say he’s a pot connoisseur.
He’s concerned that the recreational market for pot will attract a lot of novice growers. He thinks Oregon’s experienced growers will stay put in the medical system.
In Colorado, he says, the best marijuana is being sold in medical dispensaries. “The folks who are holding the cards have access to a higher level quality of flower.”
Cohen isn’t the only person who thinks Oregon’s medical marijuana system isn’t going anywhere soon.
“A lot of people ask me, are you worried about your clinic, because medical marijuana won’t be necessary any more.” That’s Alex Rodgers. He owns clinics in Ashland and Eugene that help people qualify for medical marijuana cards, for a fee.
Rodgers says medical marijuana will be cheaper and less tightly regulated than recreational pot. “Well yeah, medical marijuana will be necessary. You’ll be able to get it for less expensive at the dispensaries because it won’t be taxed. You’ll also be able to carry 24 ounces, instead of one.”
One of the key selling points of Measure 91 was tax revenue. The measure slaps a $35 an ounce tax on legal sales of marijuana flowers. But the medical marijuana growers are exempt from that tax.
In fact, none of the provisions of Measure 91 are supposed to apply to Oregon’s medical marijuana program. “We're going to have to tighten the medical marijuana program. We’re going to have to put additional criteria around a doctor’s recommendation,”
Close to 70,000 people have signed up to grow and use marijuana as patients in the Oregon Medical Marijuana program.
Of those, a little more than 4200 have qualified for it as cancer and AIDS patients, according to the Oregon Health Authority. But by far the most common condition people list when they sign up for the program is generic pain.
"If you can't find weed in the Applegate, you're blind, deaf and you can't smell. You don't have a sense about you!" — A grower who goes by the name Pa Butt in the Applegate Valley.
“There is a significant percentage of the growers who want to see this legal. We’re willing to pay taxes, we want regulations, we want quality rules. We want police protection. We need police protection.” — Richard Chasm, a medical grower outside of Roseburg.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, a single marijuana plant grown outdoors in Southern Oregon can yield between 6 and 20 pounds of marijuana — or about 2,200 to 9,000 one-gram joints.
"Legalization comes, more people can grow, and then the market’s flooded. If the market’s flooded, it’s going to be really hard for some people to make any money... . I personally don’t want this to be legalized. I think it’s going to hurt a lot of the smaller communities, and a lot of people I’ve grown to love." — Wendy, who asked that we only use her first name, is a trimmer in the Applegate Valley.
In 2010, when California voted on legalization, the three counties in the so-called “Emerald Triangle” where marijuana is predominantly grown in the state voted against it.
"For quite a few years, we've run into marijuana grows on our property. There's more now than there used to be. Our foresters don't want to stir things up too much with those people so they just remove all their equipment ... and hope it will make them not want to come back ... Going to the state police or sheriff's department probably wouldn't do too much because there aren't resources to deal with that." — Jennifer Phillippi, CEO of Rough & Ready Lumber
Researchers with Rand Corp. found that the top 20 percent of heaviest users accounted for more than 80 percent of the demand for marijuana in Washington state. Rand estimates heavy users consumed about 1.6 grams a day.
“I think the social ramifications of it becoming normal, for even the children, I have an issue with. I am concerned that children will have more access to it.” — Orrin, only wanted to go by his first name, is a grower in the Applegate Valley.
"People are fooled if they think they're going to collect taxes on it ... Quite frankly, if I'm growing marijuana and you're my neighbor and I sell it to you for cash, what's to make me report that and pay a tax on that?" — Sheriff Gil Gilbertson, Josephine County.
In 2011 a national survey on drug use and health found more marijuana users in Oregon reported getting the drug for free than paying for it.
"This is the gold rush of the 21st Century. There's been a population boom to our little valley ... What I expect, just like the gold rush, it starts out with these opportunities for autonomous individuals who can come in with a little topsoil and a little start can grow marijuana. Then later, it gets taken over by larger industries, which could be the shift we're about to see if it does become legalized." — Chelsea Rose, archeologist living in the Applegate Valley.
In 2011 a national survey on drug use and health found more marijuana users in Oregon reported getting the drug for free than paying for it.
Copyright 2014 Oregon Public Broadcasting