By Matt Ferner

Oregon adults will be able to legally purchase recreational marijuana beginning Oct. 1, about a year earlier than had been expected.  

Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed a law on Tuesday allowing the sale of recreational marijuana in existing medical marijuana dispensaries, starting just three months after Oregon’s reformed marijuana law went into effect.

The measure “is a smart solution to a short-term logistical problem,” Kristen Grainger, Brown’s spokeswoman, told The Huffington Post. “Oregon’s new recreational marijuana law went into effect in July 2015, but Oregonians couldn’t lawfully buy it anywhere for another year or more. If marijuana is legal to use, it shouldn’t be illegal to buy.”

The new marijuana law allows adults 21 and older to buy up to one-fourth ounce of recreational marijuana per day at medical marijuana shops. Consumers also may buy seeds and up to four non-flowering cannabis plants. The 25 percent state tax on marijuana sales won’t begin until Jan. 4, so early shoppers can buy their newly legal weed tax-free for a few months. 

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission, charged with regulating and monitoring the industry, will issue licenses to new recreational marijuana retailers later. Those shops, which will be allowed to sell up to one ounce per transaction, are likely to open before the end of 2016.

 State voters in November approved Measure 91, which legalized the possession, use and sale of recreational marijuana for adults. The law took effect July 1, but sales hadn’t been expected to begin until late 2016, giving state authorities time to establish a regulatory framework and issue licenses to retailers. 

“I think this is a step forward,” U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D) told HuffPost of the new law. “The state is doing a careful job of rolling this out in a thoughtful way, working to keep with …read more

Source:: Weed Feed