SALEM, Ore. — As lawmakers push closer to the July 11 deadline to adjourn, the pace of activity is picking up precipitously.
After struggling for months to find common ground, lawmakers pushed forward a series of bills setting up regulations for Oregon’s new legal marijuana industry.
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While possession and use of marijuana becomes legal for adults this week, the ballot measure that authorized it didn’t allow sales to begin until late in 2016. A legislative committee decided unanimously to through existing medical marijuana dispensaries, saying it would be better to have people buying pot through legal channels.
The House voted to create a , with an option for local governments to tack on an additional 3 percent. The sales tax would replace a tax on growers that marijuana businesses said would be difficult to enforce.
