Oregon voters approved a medical marijuana initiative in 1998. Fifteen years later, in 2013, the state legislature legalized medical marijuana dispensaries -- between 100 and 200 were operating illegally in the state at the time -- and set up a framework for regulating them. Then in 2014, Oregon voters approved a measure legalizing adult social use of marijuana, following which the state legislature set up a regulatory framework (which included one of Oregon's first sales taxes).
As expected, with legalization, these days there are many fewer arrests on marijuana charges in Oregon. So what about the patients? What's been the impact on the medical program, how are the thousands of Oregonians with serious medical conditions who rely on medical marijuana coping in this brave new world? To find out more, Prison Pipeline Collective member Doug McVay spoke with Anthony Taylor, founder and president of the patient advocacy organization Compassionate Oregon.
- KBOO