Oregon Cannabis Tax Act

By Paul Stanford, Chief Petitioner, OCTA 2012

Oregonians for the Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) will soon begin gathering the initial 1000 registered Oregon voters' signatures needed to sponsor the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 petition. After gathering these required first signatures, the Office of the Secretary of State will certify a ballot title with the Attorney General, proposing a statutory initiative for the General Election of November 1, 2012.

OCTA 2012 will set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in adult-only stores for two new state committees that will promote Oregon industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber and food.

It will also legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana. People who want to cultivate and sell marijuana, or process commercial psychoactive cannabis, would be required to obtain a license from the state. Adults could grow their own marijuana and the sale of all cannabis strains' seeds and starter plants would be legalized with no license, fee nor registration. The profits from the sale of cannabis to adults will add hundreds of millions of dollars into the state general fund, as well as drug treatment and education.

All hands on deck!

Do you consider yourself a member of the reality-based community? Do you value science-based policy? Do you think we need more liberty, not less? Do you object to needlessly enriching organized crime, putting otherwise law-abiding citizens in cages and wasting law enforcement resources on ‘crimes’ associated with ingestion of a plant that has never actually killed anyone?

If so, we need your help.

The movement to reform our marijuana laws is gaining steam, in spite of our timid elected leader’s continued attempts to water down new medical marijuana bills around the nation and to weaken existing laws.

Americans of goodwill in several states are either attempting to get re-legalization measures on the ballot this year or have already succeeded in getting such measures on the ballot. Passing these measures will be proverbial shots heard around the world and will force our government and elected leaders who have buried their heads in the sand to finally deal with this issue.

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Johann Wolfgang Van Goethe

By Jennifer Alexander, Oregon NORML

Many Oregonians are proud to be citizens of one of the first states to have allowed the use of medical marijuana. For many years, the federal government has led us to believe that marijuana had “no medical value” by retaining it in Schedule I and by continuing to plague us with propaganda that insists that marijuana is “dangerous.” As of April 1, 2010, there are over 32,000 medical marijuana patients currently holding cards in Oregon that disprove the notion that marijuana has “no medical value.”[i] Marijuana remains among the safest drugs known to mankind.

Proven Medical Value

In recent years, our society is rediscovering the value of marijuana for a wide range of disorders, including AIDS, cancer, muscle spasms, chronic pain and many others. The ongoing research is astounding and could demonstrate tremendous breakthroughs in our health and overall well-being. Research continues to demonstrate that marijuana is not as dangerous as once believed, and far more beneficial than most ever thought it could be. However, this research is still very limited due to the status of cannabis as a Schedule I drug. This needs to change; sound clinical studies need to be done to determine more about the potential benefits and possible risks of using cannabis.

By Bennett Hall, Gazette-Times reporter

A pair of pro-marijuana events are coming to Corvallis as advocates push to get a measure aimed at legalizing the drug on the November ballot.

Local pot promoters are planning a Corvallis Marijuana March on Saturday to coincide with marches in other cities organized by Cures Not Wars, a New York-based group that opposes the war on drugs.

Sponsored by the Corvallis Cannabis Movement and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, the local event will begin at 2 p.m. with a rally at the Benton County Courthouse. The march will start at 4:20 p.m., winding around the courthouse, the police station and City Hall before turning west on Monroe Avenue to Oregon State University and then heading back to Central Park.

In a news release announcing the event, the organizers said they’ll be looking for petition circulators to gather signatures for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act.

The measure, which is being promoted by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, would make it legal for adults to grow and use marijuana in Oregon. It would also regulate pot sales, with part of the proceeds going to promote industrial hemp use.

The petitioners hope to collect 125,000 signatures by July 2, the deadline to place the ballot measure before voters in the November general election.

Sign the Petition to End Prohibition. Regulate Cannabis, Support Industrial Hemp, Create Revenue.

By Hemp News Staff

Oregonians for Cannabis Reform have finished gathering the 1000 sponsorship signatures needed for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2010 (OCTA) petition. The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, would set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in cannabis-only stores for two state commissions that promote industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil.

It will also legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana. People who want to cultivate and sell marijuana, or process commercial psychoactive cannabis, would be required to obtain a license from the state. Adults could grow their own marijuana and the sale of all cannabis strains' seeds and starter plants would be legalized with no license, fee nor registration. The profits from the sale of cannabis to adults will add hundreds of millions into the state general fund as well as drug treatment and education.

In order to be successful, we will need help from volunteers across Oregon. Please tell ten friends about OCTA 2010 and get involved! We are now circulating the petition across Oregon. We will need 83,000 valid signatures by July, 2, 2010 to qualify for the November ballot.

By Felicia Heaton, News Radio 1190 KEX

Source: http://1190kex.com

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk5Q5oMeYwg

By Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town/Hemp News

Oregon's marijuana legalization initiative, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA), is kicking off its signature-gathering phase at the OR NORML meeting in Portland this Saturday, April 10.

Petitions have just been approved for circulation by the Oregon Secretary of State's Office, and OCTA said it expects more than 300 attendees to be among the first to sign the petition for this historic ballot measure.

OCTA will generate revenue by taxing commercial cannabis sales, which will be permitted to adults 21 and older. More than $140 million a year would be generated by OCTA for the state's General Fund, according to projections, paying for education, roads, health care, and other public projects.

"OCTA will transform Oregon," said co-chief petitioner Madeleine Martinez, executive director of OR NORML. "Supporting OCTA is a no-brainer."

According to OCTA's other co-chief petitioner, Paul Stanford of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF), the potential of industrial hemp for Oregon's economy is limitless, as it will turn the state into a national leader in ecological innovation and sustainable jobs.

"The entire hemp plant is useful, from its seeds which create a food source to its oil which can be made into bio-diesel to its stalks which can be woven into fabrics or turned into paper," Stanford said. "Hemp is the future, not just for Oregon, but for a sustainable planet."

By David Krough and AP

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Marijuana advocates are gearing up to legalize the drug for recreational use in Oregon with a new measure poised to go on the November ballot.

According to their website, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act would "legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana." It would also set aside two percent of profits from cannabis sales for commissions that promote industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil.

Growers and sellers would need a state license and could only sell in cannabis-only stores.

Oregon became the second state to pass a marijuana law in 1998, following California. There are nearly 24,000 patients with medical marijuana cards in Oregon. Only state residents can obtain the card after registering as a patient in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program with a qualifying debilitating medical condition diagnosed by a doctor.

Organizers will start collecting signatures Saturday.

Kyndall Mason with the DemocracyResources.com organization was working with the National Organization for Reform of Mairjuana Laws (NORML) and Oregon groups to gather signatures starting Saturday.

"Oregon has a long history of laws that conflict with federal law, that includes the Death with Dignity Act," Mason said. "The feds have (recently) given states more autonomy, specifically regarding medical marijuana laws," she said.

By Bryan Podwys, Portland Political Buzz Examiner

The Oregon Secretary of State has certified a petition that proposes legalizing and taxing the sale of marijuana across the state. The measure, which bears resemblance to others Oregon voters have rejected over the past few decades, could be included on this year's ballot if enough signatures are gathered by July 2nd.

Over 35 years ago, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize the use of cannabis products. Possession of one ounce or less became punishable by a simple fine followed by further changes with the passage of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act in 1998. With an upcoming ballot measure in California that could go one step further and actually legalize and tax marijuana sales gaining national attention, some Oregonians are eager to keep their state at the forefront of progressive legislation.

Oregon pot-legalization advocates push to follow California’s lead.

By Peter Griffin, WW

After decades of dashed hopes, leaders of the movement to legalize marijuana believe their goal is poised to become a reality this year.

They got renewed momentum last week when organizers of an initiative to legalize cannabis in California submitted enough signatures to put the issue on that state’s ballot this November. And Oregon pot advocates are confident the Beaver State will not be far behind.

As candidates for governor, the Legislature, City Hall and Multnomah County campaign in Oregon’s May primary with their proposed solutions to budget problems, pot-legalization supporters are working to get an initiative similar to California’s on the November ballot here. Legislation backers are pitching the proposal’s economic benefits. Advocates say legalizing pot and taxing it could generate at least $100 million a year and save as much as $75 million annually on law enforcement.

The Oregon Cannabis Taxation Act, like California’s proposal, would let anyone 21 and older possess up to an ounce of marijuana and set up a committee to regulate distribution and taxation.

The Oregon proposal, which also would prohibit the regulation of hemp, has until July 2 to collect 82,679 valid signatures from registered voters to make the November ballot.

On March 25, 2010 the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act won a huge victory when the Oregon Supreme Court shot down Bradley Benoit’s challenge to their initiative. Now that the challenge has been cleared, the backers of the initiative can start gathering signatures in order to get it on the November ballot. Unlike a similar initiative in California, which has already been approved for the November election, the Oregon initiative still needs a tremendous amount of signatures. In Oregon, the amount of signatures needed is determined by the total votes cast in the previous Governor election. Because this is a ’statutory initiative,’ it is going to require 82,769 valid signatures by July 2, 2010.

As previously stated, due to the challenge by Beaverton area resident Bradley Benoit, the signature gathering campaign has been delayed. This is a common tactic used in Oregon initiative politics. Here’s how it works; someone has the idea for a possible initiative, and gets the original 1,000 signatures needed to the Secretary of State Elections Division to be approved for further signature gathering. The State Elections Division validates the signatures, and then asks for an official ballot title and summary of the bill. If there is no challenge, such as in the case of Oregon Initiative 28 (medical marijuana dispensary bill), signatures can be gathered.

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #626, 4/2/10

There is a chance, albeit an outside one, that the entire West Coast could go green in November. Last week we noted that the California tax and regulate initiative had made the ballot, and reported on the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act initiative's ongoing effort to make the ballot. This week, we turn our attention to Washington state, where yet another marijuana legalization initiative campaign is underway.

Sponsored by Seattle Hempfest head Vivian McPeak, marijuana defense attorneys Douglass Hiatt and Jeffrey Steinborn, and journalist-turned-activist Philip Dawdy and organized under the rubric of Sensible Washington, initiative I-1068 would legalize marijuana by removing marijuana offenses from the state's controlled substances act.

As the official ballot summary puts it:

"This measure would remove state civil and criminal penalties for persons eighteen years or older who cultivate, possess, transport, sell, or use marijuana. Marijuana would no longer be defined as a 'controlled substance.' Civil and criminal penalties relating to drug paraphernalia and provisions authorizing seizure or forfeiture of property would not apply to marijuana-related offenses committed by persons eighteen years or older. The measure would retain current restrictions and penalties applicable to persons under eighteen."

A monumental ballot measure like this will make Oregon a national leader in ecological innovation and sustainable jobs.

By Salem-News

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA) campaign learned today that the Oregon Supreme Court dismissed the only challenge to the OCTA ballot title.

The challenge – filed by Bradley Benoit from the Beaverton area – was mired in an earlier comment regarding the summary explanation. The comment requested the summary of the measure describe in detail the fact that the Oregon Attorney General would be responsible for defending Oregonians, and the law itself, should there be a federal case.

This comment was addressed and the Attorney General included Benoit's comments in the revised certified ballot title. In an attempt to stall the signature gathering effort Benoit filed a supreme court challenge to the title stating his comments were not fully addressed.

This decision from the Oregon Supreme Court sends a clear message to Benoit that his concerns were adequately addressed in the certified title released after the comment period.

This decision also marks a pivotal step forward in the process to collect signatures on a ballot measure that will end prohibition on adult marijuana use and industrial hemp.

By Steve Elliott for Hemp News

It's full speed ahead for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA), a ballot initiative which would legalize and tax marijuana in the Beaver State, as the Oregon Supreme Court has dismissed the only challenge to OCTA's ballot title.

The challenge -- filed by Bradley Benoit from the Beaverton, Ore., area -- came from an earlier comment regarding OCTA's summary explanation. The comment requested the summary of the measure describe in detail the fact that the Oregon Attorney General would be responsible for defending Oregonians, and the law itself, should a federal case arise.

The comment was addressed, and the Attorney General included Benoit's comments in the revised, certified ballot title, according to OCTA campaign spokesman Kyndall Mason.

"In an attempt to stall the signature gathering effort, Benoit filed a Supreme Court challenge to the title stating his comments were not fully addressed," Mason explained. "This decision from the Oregon Supreme Court sends a clear message to Benoit that his concerns were adequately addressed in the certified title released after the comment period."

According to Mason, the decision also marks a crucial step forward in the process to collect signatures for the ballot measure, which would end Oregon's prohibition on adult marijuana use and industrial hemp.

The color of money may soon turn a new shade of green as U.S. states across the country consider legalizing and then taxing marijuana to cure chronic budget problems.

By Kim Dixon and Lisa Lambert, WASHINGTON

California came the closest to taxing tokes last week by putting an initiative on its November ballot. The top marijuana-producing state could raise $1.3 billion annually, according to the California Board of Equalization, which collects taxes.

As the state struggles to close its multibillion dollar deficit, supporters say the legalization fight will be close, though the scope of potential conflicts with federal law is uncertain.

"If you can tax it, it's just one more way to make money for the government," said Linsey Isaacs, a 20-year-old rental agent in New York City, who does not smoke marijuana. "To me it's better than cigarettes, healthwise, and if they can tax cigarettes, then I don't see anything wrong with taxing marijuana."

California's current budget gap may be large at $20 billion, but it is not unique, and the outcome will be closely watched. The National Governors Association says the recession will not end in some states until 2012.

As California moves closer to a vote on the legalizing marijuana, which most states banned in the 1930s, the push is finding backers for different reasons.

from Drug War Chronicle, Issue #625, 3/26/10

Oregon, the first state to decriminalize marijuana in the modern era and one of the first to approve a medical marijuana law, could become a battleground for marijuana reform again this year. Two separate initiatives, one aimed at improving the state's existing medical marijuana program, and one that seeks to legalize and regulate marijuana and hemp, are campaigning to be certified for the November ballot.

The medical marijuana initiative, I-28, would create a system of state-regulated dispensaries and state-licensed medical marijuana producers. Dispensaries would have to be Oregon nonprofits, and pay a $2,000 license fee and a 10% tax on gross sales. Licensed producers would have to pay a $1,000 license fee and the 10% tax. Patients registered under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program would be able to buy their supplies at any dispensary, and dispensaries would be able to buy from any licensed producer.

I-28 would not stop patients from growing their own, nor would it impede them from resorting to a caregiver, as they can do currently.

More than 10 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana violations since 1965, ruining countless lives and breaking up families as a result. For what good purpose?

The National Rifle Association (NRA), Right To Life, Christian Coalition, and gay rights movements, especially in their infancies, were considered wild and crazy fringe groups with no chance of gaining significant political support.

What made these groups so much more effective politically is that they were funded with the mother's milk of politics; not just by membership fees, but by large contributions from private sources, plus countless small donations that gave their efforts additional strength.

Invariably, the private sources who funded such groups used their influence to place the most effective people in strategic places where they gave their causes a respectable face. Such increased funding also naturally tended to relegate the wild and crazy element to the background, where they were less able to distort the decision making process.

A Benefit of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act featuring music from Pass Margo, Jim Matthiessen of Seattle Hempfest's house band Herbivores, BCDP - Belville, Cornett, Davis and Pate, Sidestreet Reny and the Wy'east Drummers.

Please tell ten friends!

$10 suggested donation at the door.

Village Ballroom
700 Northeast Dekum Street
Portland, OR 97211

Make A Secure Credit-Card Donation to support the OCTA initiative

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For Immediate Release:

The Office of the Secretary of State received a certified ballot title from the Attorney General on February 2, 2010, for initiative #73, proposing a statutory amendment, for the General Election of November 2, 2010.

In addition, Secretary of State Kate Brown determined that the proposed initiative petition was in compliance with the procedural requirements established in the Oregon Constitution for initiative petitions.

The certified ballot title is as follows:

Permits personal marijuana, hemp cultivation/use without license; commission to regulate commercial marijuana cultivation/sale

Result of "Yes" Vote: "Yes" vote permits state-licensed marijuana (cannabis) cultivation/sale to adults through state stores; permits unlicensed adult personal cultivation/use; prohibits restrictions on hemp (defined).

Result of a "No" Vote: "No" vote retains existing civil and criminal laws prohibiting cultivation, possession and delivery of marijuana; retains current statues that permit regulated use of medical marijuana.

By Anna Song, KATU News and KATU.com Staff

If you just listen to just one side of the debate to legalize marijuana, you'd think it was a wonder plant.

A common argument is that marijuana is safer than the legal drug alcohol. But do facts back up that assertion?

“Marijuana is safer than alcohol,” Madeleine Martinez of Oregon’s pro-legalization organization NORML said, “no one's ever died of a lethal dose of marijuana.”

Mark Herer, owner of the The Third Eye Shoppe, a classic “head shop” located on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard in Portland, said he’s “met a lot of screwed up people in my day, I've met a lot of potheads in my day… most of the potheads I know are not screwed up people.”

Washington state lawmaker Mary Lou Dickerson, 63, is pushing for legalization and equates current marijuana laws to alcohol prohibition in the 1920’s.

“We're treating marijuana like we treated alcohol during prohibition, and it doesn't make sense,” she said.

By Anna Song KATU News and KATU.com Staff

PORTLAND, Ore. - While state budgets in Oregon and Washington face gaping holes, advocates of legalizing marijuana say taxing pot can help fill those holes.

Madeline Martinez, Oregon’s executive director for NORML, the national organization that’s pushing to reform marijuana laws, says she sees a golden opportunity to convince people that legalizing marijuana could be a good thing after all.

“Why don’t we capture the revenue that’s just being lost to the criminal market in many regards and bring it to the people. We’re the ones who deserve it,” she says.

Her group estimates the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, if passed by voters, would generate $140 million a year in revenue, 90 percent of which would go to the state’s general fund. The rest would go primarily to drug abuse treatment programs, Martinez says.

She calls it “Cannicare” because “we would be using cannabis money to pay for health care,” she says.

BY Oregon Tax News,

Pot appears to be back on the docket in 2010, as four states debate legalizing marijuana and the impacts such a move could have on businesses and the economy. Business owners are concerned that legalization will make them subject to new discriminatory lawsuits for not hiring workers who use marijuana. Some states however are hopeful that the legalization and the sale of marijuana will bring new tax revenue to the state during difficult economic times.

In Oregon, the Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH) and Oregon NORML have finished gathering the 1,000 sponsorship signatures needed for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2010 (OCTA) to be placed on the ballot. The OCTA, would set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in cannabis-only stores for two state commissions that promote industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber, protein and oil. The measure would legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana.

Green is their signature color. Medicinal marijuana gardeners throughout the state of Oregon enjoyed a plentiful harvest last fall, and look to 2010 as a year of growth, and change.

By Bonnie King, Salem-News

(SALEM, Ore.) - “After living through arrests in the past for growing marijuana, to be able to do it legally, it’s almost entirely stress-free compared to when it was illegal. So to be able to help the people that need this - it warms our hearts,” said Paul Stanford, Executive Director of The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation. The fear of breaking the law has stopped most people for seven decades from considering marijuana, or cannabis, to treat their ailments. That is no longer the rule of the day, as this medical marijuana garden clearly proves.

"It took courageous people to stand up and question the prohibition against alcohol." Rick Steves, Marijuana Conversation

By D. Paul Stanford & Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH) and Oregon NORML have finished gathering the 1000 sponsorship signatures needed for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2010 (OCTA) & Oregon Cannabis Tolerance Act 2010 (OCTA Light) petitions. These were turned in to the Oregon Secretary of State's office on September 21, 2009. We are currently waiting for official ballot titles from the state and should have them in the next few weeks. After polling, we will begin circulating one of the petitions across Oregon. We will need 100,000 valid signatures by July, 2, 2010 to qualify for the November 2010 election.

Activists had previously filed OCTA in 2008, but withdrew it when polling showed antipathy about the previous version placing cannabis sales in existing state liquor stores. Activists went back to the drawing board and came up with two versions.