By Steve Elliott
Hemp News
Medical marijuana dispensaries are being legalized in Oregon after Governor John Kitzhaber on Wednesday signed House Bill 3460, which will license and regulate the retail establishments.
The law moves Oregon's already booming medical marijuana industry solidly into the mainstream, reports Noelle Crombie at The Oregonian. It creates a registry of businesses that sell medicinal cannabis to authorized patients.
Oregon patients have been left without a legal way to access medical marijuana other than through growing it themselves or having a designated caregiver do it for them since the law was approved by voters in 1998. In the absence of retail storefronts, gray-market dispensaries sprung up in a few tolerant areas of the state, chiefly Portland.
Oregon joins a dozen other states that specifically allow medical marijuana dispensaries or retail outlets.
The Oregon Health Authority will be drafting rules for the new dispensary registry. The agency is still working out how that process will go forward, according to state officials.
The authority has until March 2014 to draft the rules on security, cannabis testing and other issues, reports The Oregonian. The bill had initially included a provision limiting criminal liability for existing dispensaries; Oregon prosecutors successfully got that part taken out.