While waiting on Salem, cities grapple with marijuana regulations

Gresham's debate this month over whether to allow medical marijuana businesses exposed a deep divide of opinion about the drug in the state. Supporters, like Councilor Karylinn Echols, argued city government shouldn't stand in the way of a patient's need for medication while Council President Jerry Hinton, who opposes the businesses, said he doesn't want to provide access to another intoxicating drug to residents. "I need to represent that half of the citizens of Gresham that did not vote for marijuana," Hinton said just before the City Council adopted regulations on a 4-3 vote that allow the businesses – but only with tight regulations and expensive fees. Their debate mirrors what's happening in state Capitol as lawmakers reached an impasse last week over how much power cities and counties should have to prohibit medical marijuana facilities. Members of a House-Senate committee on marijuana couldn't agree whether or not any local ban should have to go directly to voters. Just as in Gresham, the legislative debate revolved around whether it was more important to preserve patient access to medical marijuana – or whether the leaders of local communities should have the ability to chart their own course. The issue also goes beyond medical marijuana. Legislators will also weigh demands from city and county associations that they revamp the marijuana legalization measure approved by voters last fall to give local governments the power to prohibit retail sales of the drug. Under the initiative, Measure 91, only voters can approve a ban by collecting enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot. "The question that we've been struggling with is how to help communities that don't quite feel they're culturally ready for this transition to ease into a new situation," said Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego and the co-chair of the marijuana committee. Lininger, along with a majority of the House members of the committee, argued that any local medical marijuana ban should be automatically sent to voters for their approval. Besides being fair to patients, she said it also keeps faith with Measure 91. Cities and counties were allowed to place a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries and processors while they considered how to regulate them. All told, 146 cities and 26 counties took advantage of the moratorium, which expired on May 1. Legislators and local officials alike are trying to figure out what comes next, and there's debate about whether local governments can continue to ban the facilities under existing law. Senate leaders will attempt to break the legislative impasse on Monday when they send the medical marijuana bill through a newly created committee. That bill is expected to include a provision giving local governments the right to ban medical marijuana facilities – although local voters could attempt to overturn such a ban by collecting enough signatures to take the issue to the ballot. Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, co-chairs the House-Senate committee and the new panel that will meet Monday, said she thinks a strong majority of the Senate will support this approach, and that will help persuade the House to go along. Meanwhile, residents in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties are seeing a mixed bag of decisions by city and county leaders. At least, twelve cities have adopted policies to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, while at least five others have kept existing bans in place or issued new ones. Washington and Clackamas counties have also passed policies to allow the businesses in rural areas. Lake Oswego, for example, adopted an ordinance banning medical marijuana businesses on April 21. City attorney David Powell said the ban isn't taking a position on the use of medical pot, but the city wants more time to see how dispensaries roll out.