Activists expected to target jurisdictions that have opted out of implementing Measure 91.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Marijuana activists are expected to target jurisdictions that have opted out of implementing Measure 91.
The Bend Bulletin examined the state’s “deepening marijuana divide” as rural areas attempt to cast aside a future with legal marijuana.
“We’ve never had an opportunity on the east side of the (Cascade) Mountains to vote for something that all of Oregon has voted one way and our side has voted the other,” said Madras Mayor Royce Embanks on Wednesday. “We wanted this to be a democratic process. I didn’t want to sit up there and dictate to people what I wanted them to do. They live here, and so do I, but I owe that to them as mayor.”
Of 39 cities in Oregon that opted out of commercial marijuana licenses under House Bill 3400, so far, 21 imposed outright by city councils. The remaining 18 put the question to voters next year. Deschutes County commissioners considered a ban, but instead decided to regulate through land-use rules to allay rural residents’ concerns over nuisance growing operations. Bend allows recreational sales at medical marijuana dispensaries and created a task force to recommend rules for dispensary locations.
(SOURCE: Bend Bulletin)
Should rural communities forgo the potential revenue of legal marijuana?
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