Let me begin by acknowledging that the sky will not fall next July once the adult recreational use of marijuana becomes legal in Oregon.

In fact, the new voter-approved law reforms criminal justice practices relating to marijuana possession, and it directs 25 percent of the revenue from the marijuana tax to drug education and treatment, and 40 percent of the revenue to public schools. These are welcome things, the cognitive dissonance of drug-built, drug-free schools notwithstanding.

But as Oregonians celebrate their coming summer high, we also must prepare for the after-party: the increasingly higher numbers of teens using and becoming addicted to marijuana.

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Oregonians spoke loud and clear on Nov. 4 when they voted to legalize, tax and regulate recreational marijuana for adults. Measure 91 passed with more than 55 percent of the vote. Lane County and on the coast posted even higher tallies, and 71 percent of Multnomah County voters supported the measure.

We should interpret these numbers as a strong mandate: The war on marijuana has failed, and Oregonians reject prohibition. It is time for a new approach that focuses on eliminating the black market, ending the racial disparity in marijuana enforcement, regulating the industry and raising revenue for priorities like education, drug treatment and public safety.

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Oregon Can Expect $20 Million From Taxes

There could be gold in cannabis in terms of tax revenue if Nevada voters in 2016 ultimately approve the recreational use of marijuana for adults, based on estimates for Oregon and Alaska.

Estimates made by Arcview Market Research's team for the two states, which passed marijuana legalization initiatives Nov. 4, show projected first-year retail sales of nearly $200 million in Oregon, which has a population of 3.9 million.

Projected excise tax revenue is $20 million, with total demand estimated at 158,897 pounds.

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Measure 91 Sets Up Clash With State

Cities' Maneuver to Curb Dispensaries

PORTLAND (AP) - Cities scrambled to pass taxes on marijuana before a legalization measure went before voters. Their bet: That the taxes would get grandfathered in.

But Measure 91, passed by voters Nov. 4, has a clause forbidding any taxation on marijuana except by the state. Now, those cities say they are prepared to defend their taxes in court.

Attorney Dave Kopilak helped draft the law and is studying the response. Ashland City Manager Dave Kanner was one of the first to propose such a tax, which passed in Ashland this year.

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As a retired masters-prepared Registered Nurse, I want to thank the Measure 91 campaign and the voters of Oregon for passing a historic measure to regulate, legalize and tax marijuana. The hysteria purported by our opponents was baseless and immature.

In the years ahead, we can look forward to responsible recreational marijuana use without stigma and fear. It is a GREAT DAY for all Oregonians to be in the forefront of progressive action once again.

Carol S. Taft

Oak Grove

[end]

After voters in Washington and Colorado voted to legalize marijuana in 2012, Alison Holcomb would tell pot activists it was too early to say that the rest of America was ready to accept the drug.

Holcomb, an American Civil Liberties Union official who managed Washington's legalization campaign, recalled that nearly a dozen states - including Oregon - decriminalized possession of small amounts of the drug in the 1970s.

"And then the '80s came and the pendulum swung back hard," she said, as President Ronald Reagan called marijuana "probably the most dangerous drug in America" and stepped up federal enforcement against all illegal drugs.

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A severe test of Oregon's resourcefulness over the next year will be the phase-in of legal recreational marijuana.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission is immediately tasked, with the passage of Measure 91, with rulemaking that will regulate pot throughout the state: in the licensing of sellers, in labeling requirements on products, in the collection of taxes shouldered by growers.

Add to the list the challenge of ensuring the public's safety and programs that help protect young people from the drug, and you have a hefty undertaking. That's to say nothing of potential complication from several Oregon municipalities insisting on separately taxing pot sales a drive that could skew sales by venue and, if pot's price runs too high in the legal market, perversely stimulate the black market.

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Want to be a midnight toker? Better wait till next summer, because anyone caught with recreational marijuana before then can expect to get busted as usual.

That's the word from Oregon State Police, the Corvallis Police Department and the Linn County Sheriff's Office, all of which say they'll enforce existing marijuana laws until Oregon's new law allowing recreational marijuana use takes effect July 1, 2015.

"We understand the voters have passed this," Corvallis Chief John Sassaman said. "But currently, today, as it stands, marijuana is still illegal. We don't fudge the lines."

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Oregon voters said yes to marijuana Tuesday, making the state the third to allow the possession and sale of cannabis for recreational rather than strictly medical use.

The crowd at the Southeast Portland club Holocene, where Yes on 91 held its victory party, erupted into rowdy cheers upon learning Measure 91 had passed. Someone in the audience yelled "Legal cannabis, baby," as longtime legalization advocate Anthony Johnson took the stage. He called the vote "decades in the making."

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Oregon Voters Legalize Recreational Marijuana; Benton Strongly Backs It

Oregon voters legalized the recreational use of pot Tuesday, making the state the third to approve the drug for commercial sale and as a taxable source of revenue.

The measure passed by an overwhelming majority in Benton County, with roughly 60 percent of residents voting for the measure and 40 percent voting against, according to early returns.

A majority of Linn County voters opposed the measure, roughly 52 percent no to 46 percent yes.

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Oregon has joined Washington, Colorado and the District of Columbia in legalizing recreational use of marijuana - as long as you're 21 or older, according to Tuesday night election returns.

"The marijuana initiative is a higher margin than I thought it would be," said Ashland state Rep. Peter Buckley. "The time has come to have a legal, well regulated system that brings marijuana into the mainstream."

With nearly 75 percent of the statewide vote counted, Ballot Measure 91 was ahead 54.2 percent to 45.8 percent, or 590,768 to 499,498.

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There are good arguments for the decriminalization of a practice lawful elsewhere. Like: People do it anyway, against the law or not. And: It wastes time of police and courts, prosecuting an offense largely harmless, assets better dedicated to upholding laws against bona fide crimes, like rape and murder. And: If people do it anyway, why not reap some benefit and garner monies for public services through licensing fees and taxes. It seems obvious, then, it's time to relinquish an outdated, draconian law and acquiesce to common sense.

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The drafters of Oregon's ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana were determined to design a system that would avoid some of the troubles that have plagued Washington's retail pot market.

Oregon votes on legal recreational marijuana on Tuesday. If Measure 91 passes, Oregon recreational marijuana industry will be different from Washington in a couple of key respects, notably lower taxes. Advocates sought cheaper taxes to lure consumers from the state's thriving black market for pot.

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I support the legalization of marijuana in Oregon: Ballot Title 91. I believe everyone who will vote on this issue should read the supporting and opposing arguments as presented in the Oregon General Election Voters' Pamphlet, Nov.4, 2014. My own opinion, as described below, is provided to balance the general negative comments I have read in The Bulletin.

Full disclosure: I am a child of the '60s, and enjoyed marijuana from 1970 to 1984. I even grew a pretty good crop one year in a closet. No arrests, no providing to minors, no reselling, no DUI, no anything. Somehow, despite the comments in the media that it destroys initiative, I advanced my career as a scientist and leader to a senior executive position in my organization over those years.

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Colorado is approaching the first anniversary of legally regulated recreational marijuana for adults. The implementation of our new laws has gone smoothly overall, providing an excellent example for other states to follow. Our success has made it clear that when marijuana is regulated like alcohol, it can decrease crime, help fund schools and drug education programs, and keep money out of the hands of criminals and cartels. Voters in Oregon should look to our experience and success as they make their decision on Measure 91 on their ballot November 4th.

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Oregon has about 80 years of experience with the failed policy of marijuana prohibition. The results are clear: Treating marijuana as a crime has failed.

Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana in 2012. Oregon and Alaska are voting on it right now. Measure 91, which would regulate, tax and legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older, deserves Oregonians' votes.

A City Club of Portland member-volunteer research committee spent four months studying Measure 91. We interviewed experts from a variety of fields, including law enforcement, public health, and taxation, reviewed dozens of studies and articles, and weighed the pros and cons of legalization. The majority concluded that this measure is well written, comprehensive and could be implemented successfully.

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Illegal marijuana grows are damaging our national forests. Legalizing marijuana will help stop that from happening.

In 32 years working for the U.S. Forest Service, I have seen the Northwest's national forests face various threats, from the eruption of Mount St. Helens to the drought of 1977. Today, our forests face a threat that generates wildfires, deforestation, pollution and wildlife poisoning: illegal marijuana grow operations tied to international drug cartels. In both 2010 and 2011, law enforcement found over 90,000 of their marijuana plants in Oregon's national forests, and thousands more doubtless escaped detection. Our national forests face an epidemic of marijuana cultivation from the Siskiyou to the Wallowa-Whitman.

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Will Tuesday's election prove to be a turning point for marijuana legalization efforts across the United States? Or will it mark a substantial setback for advocates of legalized pot?

Three measures to legalize the use of recreational marijuana including Oregon's Measure 91 are on the ballot across the country. (The other measures are in the Alaska and Washington, D.C.; the D.C. measure hasn't drawn nearly the sort of publicity that has accompanied the Oregon and Alaska measures.)

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I'm a mother and grandmother who just joined the Moms for YES on Measure 91 Facebook page.

If we really care about our kids, we need to tax and regulate marijuana for adult use. Legalization will help protect our kids from dealers who sell them marijuana and possibly other drugs. Police will be able to focus on major crime that compromises the safety of our families. Tax money from the sale of legal marijuana will go to our schools, drug treatment, and law enforcement. Mexican cartels that depend on black market marijuana will abandon grow sites in our forests.

Prohibition didn't work for alcohol and it's not working for marijuana. Vote yes on Measure 91.

Claudia Little, Ashland

[end]

One might reasonably ask this question of the recent events listed below: What do they have in common?

The deaths of four young women, college athletes, by an out-of-control tractor-trailer rig in Oklahoma.

The death of a gifted young NASCAR driver who, enraged, leapt out of his disabled race car and stormed into the path of another speeding race car.

The physical abuse of his son by a world class athlete.

The shooting death of a young black man after he robbed a convenience store and attacked a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri

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