Oregon OCTA Marijuana Legalization Initiative Makes Ballot

The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA) initiative has qualified for the November ballot, the Oregon Secretary of State Election Division’s official Twitter feed announced Friday evening. That means voters in three Western states will vote on versions of marijuana legalization this year. The other two are Colorado and Washington.

The OCTA campaign and allies were quick to react.

“Today is an historic day for Oregon and for the national movement for common-sense marijuana policy,” said Paul Stanford, chief petitioner said in press release the same night. “Oregon’s long had an independent streak and led the nation on policies that benefit the public good. Regulating marijuana and restoring the hemp industry is in that tradition of independent, pragmatic governance. Whether you’re liberal or conservative, urban or rural, young or old, regulating and taxing marijuana and hemp makes sense for Oregon.”

The OCTA initiative now becomes Measure 80 on the November Oregon ballot. It would regulate marijuana for adults 21 and over, with commercial sales only through state-licensed stores. The state’s general fund would receive 90% of tax revenues, estimated at more than $140 million annually. Another 7% would go to drug treatment programs, and the remaining 3% would go toward promoting Oregon’s hemp food, fiber and bio-fuel industries.

Regulating marijuana is a more rational approach to decreasing crime and improving youth and public safety, said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which supports the initiative.

“When the voters of Oregon pass this common-sense initiative, it will take money right out of the pockets of violent gangs and cartels and put it into the state’s tax coffers, where it can be spent on improving schools, roads and public safety,” said the 34-year career law-enforcement officer and veteran of narcotics policing in Baltimore. “Plus, when cops like me are no longer charged with chasing down marijuana users, we will be able to fully focus on stopping and solving serious crimes like murders, rapes and robberies.”

Parts of organized labor are taking an interest in the job potential of a legal marijuana commerce.

“We support Measure 80 because it’ll get middle-class Oregonians back to work, it’s as simple as that,” said Dan Clay, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 555. “Whether it’s hemp biofuel refineries on the Columbia River or pulp and paper mills in central Oregon, hemp makes sense and fits Oregon’s renowned sustainability economy.”

A hundred days out from election day, it looks like we’ve got us a possible marijuana legalization trifecta.

Article republished from Stop the Drug War under Creative Commons Licensing