Pubdate: Fri, 02 Jan 2015
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2015 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Leland R. Berger

Marijuana in Oregon:

VOX POPULI, VOX DEI

Oregon marijuana laws: State Sen. Ginny Burdick says Measure 91 is "a 
pretty good draft" of - as The Oregonian editorial board puts it - 
"just another bill." This fundamentally misunderstands that under our 
state's Constitution, the people, through the initiative power, are a 
co-extensive branch of the Legislature.

Measure 91 prohibits three alterations: allowing homegrown marijuana, 
not changing the existing DUII prohibition against driving while 
impaired by marijuana, and not changing the Oregon Medical Marijuana 
Act because of Measure 91.

During the 1999 Legislative session, when the committee tasked with 
implementing the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act considered a bill to 
recommend to Congress that marijuana be rescheduled from Schedule I, 
then-Committee Chair Kevin Mannix announced that, although he opposed 
any marijuana legalization, he respected the will of the voters and 
allowed the bill to move to a floor vote.

Vox populi, vox Dei. ("The voice of the people [is] the voice of 
God.") Legislators ought not alter the medical program to implement 
the adult use program.

Leland R. Berger

Northeast Portland

Berger is a Portland lawyer who advises medical marijuana businesses statewide.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom