Newsgroups: alt.hemp
Date: 22 Jun 93 17:49 PDT
Subject: Act to Legalize It
This is a bill to legalize, tax, and regulate cannabis cultivation
and over the counter sales in the State of Oregon. The following
legislation has been through over a hundred drafts and revisions,
over a period of more than three years. Feel free to use it, edit it,
print and circulate it, debate it, revise it, lobby for it, and adapt
it to meet your goals of legalization. I have researched all the
international treaties that govern cannabis regulation and I
believe that this is in full compliance with the provision of all
of these treaties (Single Convention Treaty of 1961, UN Treaty on
Psychotropic Drugs of 1974 and its amendments of 1989, etc.) For
further details please email your inquiries to me at:
treefreeeco@igc.apc.com
Sincerely Yours,
D. Paul Stanford
The Oregon Cannabis Control Act
Whereas the people of the State of Oregon find that Cannabis
hemp is an environmentally beneficial crop that:
(a) Yields more than four times more paper than timber, more
protein than any crop except soya beans, and more methanol than
corn;
(b) Yields cloth and paper of superior strength and
durability without the application of pesticides during
cultivation and without production of cancer-causing pollutants
during processing; and,
(c) Yields a substance that relieves the suffering of many
ill people without life-threatening side effects; and,
Whereas the people find that, despite misinformation
concocted to justify cannabis prohibition, the courts of Alaska,
Hawaii and Michigan have noted presidential commission findings,
scientific studies, and learned treatises which:
(a) Characterize cannabis as a relatively harmless,
nonaddictive euphoriant used for over 10,000 years without a
single lethal overdose by people seeking enhanced social
interactions, heightened perception and creativity, personal and
spiritual insights, and relief from pain and tension;
(b) Demonstrate that moderate cannabis intoxication causes
very little impairment of psychomotor functions; reveal no
significant physical, biochemical, or mental abnormalities
attributable solely to cannabis use; and that long-term, heavy
cannabis users do not deviate significantly from their social
peers in terms of mental function;
(c) Disprove the "stepping stone" or "gateway drug" argument
that cannabis use leads to other drugs; rather, that lies taught
about cannabis, once discovered, destroy the credibility of valid
warnings against other truly dangerous drugs;
(d) Indicate that cannabis users are less likely to commit
violent acts than alcohol users, refute the argument that
cannabis causes criminal behavior, and suggest that most users
avoid aggressive behavior, even in the face of provocation; and
(e) Declare that cannabis use does not constitute a public
health problem of any significant dimension; finds no rational
basis for treating cannabis as more dangerous than alcohol; and
judge cannabis to be, overall, the least harmful intoxicant; and
Whereas the people find that cannabis is Oregon's largest
cash crop, indicating that cannabis prohibition has failed; and
Whereas the people of the State of Oregon find that cannabis
does not cause the social ills that its prohibition was intended
to guard against; rather, that most of the social ills attributed
to cannabis result from its unreasonable prohibition which:
(a) Fosters a black market that exploits children, provides
an economic subsidy for gangs, and sells cannabis of questionable
purity and uncertain potency;
(b) Generates enormous, untaxed, illicit profits that debase
our economy and corrupt our justice system; and,
(c) Wastes police efforts, clogs our courts, and drains the
public resources to no good effect; and,
Whereas, the people recall that alcohol prohibition had
caused many of the same social ills before being replaced by
regulatory laws which, ever since, have granted alcohol users the
privilege of buying alcohol from state licensees, imposed strict
penalties protecting children, delivered alcohol of sure potency,
and generated substantial public revenues; and,
Whereas the people hold that cannabis prohibition is a
sumptuary law of a nature repugnant to our constitution's framers
and which is, on its face, so unreasonable and liberticidal as
to:
(a) Arbitrarily violate the rights of cannabis users to be
secure against unreasonable search and seizure as guaranteed to
them by Article 1, Section 6 of the Oregon Constitution;
(b) Unreasonably impose felony burdens on the cannabis users
while the state grants special privileges to alcohol users, which
violates Article 1, Section 20 of the Oregon Constitution;
(c) Unnecessarily proscribe consumption of an "herb bearing
seed" given to the people in Genesis 1:29, thereby violating
their unqualified religious rights under Article 1, Section 3 and
their Natural Rights under Article 1, Section 33 of the Oregon
Constitution; and,
(d) Irrationally subvert the ends to which, in its Preamble,
the Oregon Constitution was ordained and the purposes, in Article
1, Section 1, for which our government was instituted; now,
Therefore, the people find that the constitutional ends of
justice, order, and the perpetuation of liberty; the governmental
purposes of preserving the peace, safety, and happiness of the people;
and the vitality of the other constitutional provisions cited above,
demand the replacement of a costly, self-defeating prohibition
with regulatory laws controlling cannabis cultivation, potency,
sale, and use; defining and prohibiting cannabis abuse;
protecting children with a comprehensive drug education program
and strict penalties for the sale or provision of cannabis to
minors; funding a state drug abuse treatment program; and raising
substantial revenues for public education.
Wherefore, be it enacted by the people of the State of
Oregon, the laws relating to cannabis are revised as follows:
Section 1. This Act shall operate uniformly throughout
Oregon and fully replace and supersede all statutes, municipal
charter enactments, and local ordinances relating to cannabis.
Section 2. Section 3 of this Act creates an ORS chapter 474
titled the "Oregon Cannabis Control Act." Legislative Counsel
shall move and renumber existing provisions of chapter 474.
Section 3. 474.005 Definitions. As used in this chapter:
(1) "Abuse" means repetitive or excessive drug use such that
the individual fails to fulfill a statutory or common law duty,
including but not limited to the duties owed by parents to
children, by motorists to pedestrians and other motorists, and by
employees to employers, fellow employees, and the public.
(2) "Cannabis" means the flowering tops and all parts,
derivatives, or preparations of the cannabis plant, also known as
"marijuana", containing cannabinols in concentrations established
by the commission to be psychoactive, but does not include "hemp"
as defined by ORS 474.005(5).
(3) "Commission" means the Liquor Control Commission.
(4) "Cultivation" means growing the cannabis plant.
(5) "Hemp" means the seeds, stems, and stalks of the cannabis
plant, and all other parts, products, and by-products of the
cannabis plant not containing cannabinols in concentrations
established by the commission to be psychoactive.
(6) "Person" means a natural individual or corporate entity
of any kind whatsoever.
474.015 Short Title. This chapter may be cited as the
"Oregon Cannabis Control Act."
474.025 Purpose of the Oregon Cannabis Control Act. This
chapter shall be liberally construed so as to minimize the abuse
of cannabis; to prevent the sale or provision of cannabis to
minors; and to protect the peace, safety, and happiness of the
Oregon people while preserving to them the largest measure of
liberty consistent with the above purposes.
474.035 Powers and duties of the commission, licenses for
cultivation and processing. (1) The commission shall have the
powers necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter. It
shall make such rules and regulations as will discourage and
minimize the diversion of cannabis to illicit sale or use within
the state, the illicit importation and sale of cannabis
cultivated or processed outside the state, and the illicit export
or removal of cannabis from the state. The commissions
jurisdiction shall extend to any person licensed under this
chapter to cultivate or process cannabis, but shall not extend to
any person who manufactures products from hemp.
(2) The commission shall issue to any qualified applicant a
license to cultivate cannabis for sale to the commission. The
license shall specify the areas, plots, and extent of lands to be
cultivated. The commission shall equitably apportion the purchase
of cannabis among licensees and, unless applications fail to meet
expected demand, shall not purchase from any one licensee more
than one one-thousandth of the total purchased.
(3) The commission shall issue licenses to process cannabis
to qualified applicants who submit successful bids. Licensed
processors shall, as specified by the commission, contract, cure,
extract, refine, mix, and package the entire cannabis crop and
deliver it to the commission's physical possession as soon as
possible, but not later than four months after harvest.
474.045 Commission to sell cannabis at cost for medical
purposes. The Commission shall sell cannabis at cost:
(a) To Oregon pharmacies for use under a physician's order
for glaucoma, nausea related to chemotherapy, AIDS, or any other
condition for which cannabis is an effective treatment; and,
(b) To recognized Oregon medical research facilities for use
in research directed toward expanding medical and sociological
knowledge of the composition, effects, uses, and abuse of
cannabis, to include studies of cannabis purchasers voluntarily
participating through state liquor stores under ORS 474.055.
474.055 Commission to set price and sell through state
liquor stores. The commission shall sell cannabis through the
state liquor stores and shall set the retail price of cannabis to
minimize incentives to purchase cannabis elsewhere and to
purchase cannabis for resale or for removal to other states.
474.065 Qualifications of purchasers and licensees, effect
of conviction. (1) To be qualified to purchase, cultivate, or
process cannabis, a person must be over 21 years of age and not
have been convicted of sale of cannabis to minors or convicted
under this chapter of unlicensed cultivation or sale of cannabis.
(2) Conviction for cultivation or sale of cannabis to other
than minors, when committed prior to the effective date of this
chapter, shall be expunged from the criminal records of the state
upon petition of the offender and shall not be grounds for denial
of an application for a license under this chapter.
474.075 Disposition of license fees and profits from sale of
cannabis by state. (1) The commission shall collect license
fees which shall be calculated and continually appropriated to
defray the commission's administrative costs of issuing licenses
under this chapter and the Attorney General's costs of litigation
in defense of the validity of this chapter's provisions and in
defense of persons subjected to criminal or civil liability for
actions licensed or required under this chapter.
(2) All money from the sale of cannabis shall be remitted to
the State Treasurer for credit to a cannabis account, from which
sufficient money shall be continually appropriated:
(a) To reimburse the commission for the costs of purchasing,
processing, testing, grading, shipping, storing, and selling
cannabis; of regulating, inspecting, and auditing licensees; and
of research studies required by this chapter; and,
(b) To reimburse the Attorney General's office for costs of
enforcing this chapter's criminal provisions.
(3) All money remaining in the cannabis account after
reimbursement of the related commission and Attorney General
costs shall be profits which the State Treasurer shall distribute
quarterly as follows:
(a) Sixty percent shall be distributed to the state's school
districts, appropriated by enrollment, and shall continually
appropriated to fund all public education programs except drug
education programs under ORS 474,075(3)(d).
(b) Thirty percent shall be distributed to the state's
institutions of higher education, appropriated by enrollment, and
shall be continually appropriated to fund and expand such
institutions to the end that more Oregon residents may attend and
tuition costs may be lowered.
(c) Five percent shall be credited to the department of
Human Resources and shall be continually appropriated to fund a
drug abuse treatment program providing medical and psychiatric
treatment to drug abusers on demand and on diversion from the
courts. The director shall design the program in consultation
with the Council on Alcohol and Drug Problems.
(d) Five percent shall be distributed to the state's school
districts, appropriated by enrollment, and shall be continually
appropriated to fund a drug education program which shall:
(I) Emphasize a citizen's rights and duties under our
social compact and to explain to students how drug abusers injure
the rights of others by failing to fulfill such duties;
(II) Persuade students to decline to consume intoxicants
by providing them with accurate information about the threat
intoxicants pose to their mental and physical development; and,
(III) Persuade students that if, as adults, they choose to
consume intoxicants, they must nevertheless responsibly fulfill
all duties they owe others.
474.085 Commission to establish psychoactive concentrations
of cannabinols. The commission, based on findings made in
consultation with the Board of Pharmacy as to cannabinol
concentrations which produce intoxication and the economics of
residual resin extraction, shall establish reasonable
concentrations of cannabinols deemed psychoactive under this
chapter.
474.095 Commission to set standards, test purity, grade
potency of cannabis, label contents. (1) The commission, in
consultation with the State Board of Pharmacy, shall set
standards which the commission shall apply:
(a) To test and reject cannabis containing adulterants in
concentrations known to harm people; and,
(b) To grade cannabis potency by measuring the
concentrations of psychoactive cannabinols it contains.
(2) The commission shall affix to cannabis packages a label
which shall bear the state seal, a certification of purity, a
grade of potency, the date of harvest, a warning as to the
potential for abuse, and notice of laws prohibiting resale,
removal from the state, public consumption, and provision and
sale to minors.
474.105 Commission may limit purchases. The commission may
limit the quantity of cannabis purchased by a person at one time
or over any length of time and may refuse to sell cannabis to any
person who violates this chapter's provisions or abuses cannabis
within the meaning of ORS 474.005(1).
474.115 Unlicensed cultivation or sale, removal from the
state, penalties. Unlicensed cultivation and removal from the
state of cannabis shall be Class A misdemeanors, and cultivation
for sale, removal from the state for sale, and sale of cannabis,
without commission authority, shall be Class C felonies.
474.125 Sale or provision to minors, penalties, exception.
The sale or gratuitous provision of cannabis shall be a Class A
felony, except when to a minor over 18 years of age under the
conditions provided by ORS 471.030(1) for alcohol.
474.135 Fine as additional penalty. In addition to other
penalties and in lieu of any civil remedy, conviction of sale or
unlicensed cultivation for sale under ORS 474.115 or 474.125
shall be punishable by a fine which the court shall determine
will deprive an offender of any profits from the criminal
activity.
474.145 Acquisition by minors, penalty. Except as provided
by ORS 474.125, the purchase, attempt to purchase, possession, or
acquisition of cannabis by a person under 21 years of age shall
be a violation punishable by a fine of not more than $250.
474.155 Public consumption prohibited, penalty, exception.
Except where prominent signs permit and minors are neither
admitted nor employed, public consumption of cannabis shall be a
violation punishable by a fine of not more than $250.
474.205 Commission to study methods of safe use, potential
for abuse, establish cannabis levels for presumption of
intoxication. The commission, in consultation with the Board of
Pharmacy and the Council on Alcohol and Drug Problems, and by
grants to accredited research facilities, shall:
(a) Study methods of safe use and the potential for, and ill
effects of, abuse of cannabis, and shall report its findings in a
pamphlet distributed at state liquor stores; and,
(b) Study cannabis intoxication and, if practicable, shall
establish by rule levels above which a person shall be presumed
intoxicated.
474.215 Presumption of negligence. In civil cases, a
rebuttable presumption of negligence shall arise upon clear and
convincing evidence that a person's intoxication by cannabis at
the time of injury materially contributed to the cause of injury.
474.305 Disclosure of names and addresses prohibited.
Information on applicants, licensees, and purchasers under this
chapter shall not be disclosed except upon the person's request.
474.315 Effect, Attorney General's duties. If federal law is
held to impede this chapter's full effect, unimpeded provisions
shall remain in effect and the impeded provisions shall regain
effect upon the impediments removal. The Attorney General shall
vigorously defend any person prosecuted for acts licensed under
this chapter, propose a federal act to remove impediments to this
chapter, deliver the proposed federal act to each member of
Congress, and urge adoption of the proposed federal act through
all legal and appropriate means.
