Oregon’s Recreational Legalization

In 2015, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed an emergency bill declaring marijuana sales legal to recreational users from dispensaries starting October 1, 2015, during an “early sales” period, through the end of 2016. Additional legislation signed into law by Governor Brown in March 2016 allowed the sale of medical and recreational marijuana from the same outlets. Effective January 1, 2017, marijuana can be sold for recreational use only by businesses that have obtained a “recreational license” from the OLCC; such businesses can also sell for medical use. Medical marijuana dispensaries that had not obtained a recreational license were no longer permitted to sell for recreational use after 2016. In mid-December 2016, there were fewer than 100 Oregon businesses licensed to sell recreational marijuana, whereas there were more than 300 medical-marijuana dispensaries (down from a peak of 425). However, the number of applications for recreational licenses jumped sharply in the last months of 2016, and the number of licensed retailers grew from 99 to 260 in the one-month span from early December 2016 to early January 2017.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_in_Oregon#:~:text=Recreational%20use,-The%20Oregon%20Cannabis&text=Results%20by%20county%20of%20Ballot,Oregon%20starting%20July%201%2C%202015.

Image: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/01/oregon-recreational-marijuana-legalized