Oregon Cannabis Tax Act

Source: CRRH
Subj: Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA)
Web: http://www.crrh.org/octa/law.html
http://www.cannabistaxact.org/octa/intro.html

1. (a) Yields several times more fiber, for paper and textiles, and healthier protein and oil than any other plant;
2. (b) Yields cloth and paper of superior strength and durability without the application of pesticides during cultivation and without producing cancer-causing pollutants during processing;
3. (c) Yields more biomass than any other plant outside the tropics, though it grows well in the tropics too, and grows faster than any other plant on earth in the temperate and cooler climates;
4. (d) Yields a substance that relieves the suffering of many ill people without life-threatening side effects;

1. (a) George Washington grew cannabis for more than 30 years and, while he was President, said, “the artificial preparation of hemp is really a curiosity” and told his Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, that he was, “suggesting the policy of encouraging the growth of Hemp”;
2. (b) Thomas Jefferson invented a device to process cannabis, and cannabis fiber was used for most clothing and paper production until the invention of the cotton gin;
3. (c) Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, who spoke at the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787 more than any other delegate and of whom James Madison said, “the style and finish of the Constitution properly belongs to the pen of Gouverneur Morris,” wrote a paper he sent to Thomas Jefferson called, “Notes Respecting Tobacco” that compared cannabis and tobacco and concluded that cannabis “is to be preferred”;

1. (a) Characterize cannabis as a relatively nonaddictive and comparatively harmless euphoriant used and cultivated for more than 10,000 years without a single lethal overdose;
2. (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;
3. (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 educational messages about moderate and responsible use and valid warnings against other truly dangerous drugs;
4. (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
5. (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

1. (a) Provides incentives to traffic in marijuana instead of limiting its prevalence, since almost all cannabis users evade the prohibition, even though drastically expanding public safety budgets have reduced funding for other vital services such as education;
2. (b) Fosters a black market that exploits children, provides an economic subsidy for gangs, and sells cannabis of questionable purity and uncertain potency;
3. (c) Generates enormous, untaxed, illicit profits that debase our economy and corrupt our justice system; and,
4. (d) Wastes police resources, clogs our courts, and drains the public budget to no good effect;

1. (a) Arbitrarily violate the rights of cannabis users to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure as guaranteed to them by Article 1, Section 9 of the Oregon Constitution;
2. (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;
3. (c) Unnecessarily proscribe consumption of an “herb bearing seed” given to humanity 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;
4. (d) Violates the individual’s right to privacy and numerous other Natural and Constitutional Rights reserved to the people under Article 1, Section 33 of the Oregon Constitution;
5. (e) Violates the state’s right to regulate and tax an intoxicant market as reserved to states under the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, thereby abdicating control to illicit markets; and,
6. (f) 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,

1. (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. (2) “Cannabis” means the flowering tops and all parts, derivatives, or preparations of the cannabis plant, also known as “marijuana,” containing cannabinoids in concentrations established by the commission to be psychoactive, but does not include “hemp” as defined by ORS 474.005(5).
3. (3) “Commission” means the Oregon Cannabis & Liquor Control Commission, or OCLCC, formerly the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.
4. (4) “Cultivation” means growing the cannabis plant.
5. (5) “Hemp” means the seeds, stems, and stalks of the cannabis plant, and all other parts, products, and byproducts of the cannabis plant not containing cannabinoids in concentrations established by the commission to be psychoactive. Seeds and starts of all cannabis strains shall be considered hemp.
6. (6) “Person” means a natural individual or corporate entity of any kind whatsoever.

1. (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. Hemp production for fiber, protein and oil shall be allowed without regulation, license or fee. No federal license shall be required to cultivate hemp in Oregon.
2. (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 all licensees. The commission shall purchase and sell cannabis products of the quality and grade set by market demand.
3. (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.

1. (a) To Oregon and other states’ pharmacies for use under a physician’s order for glaucoma, nausea related to chemotherapy, AIDS, or any other condition for which a physician finds cannabis to be an effective treatment; and,
2. (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 cannabispurchasers voluntarily participating through OCLCC stores under ORS 474.055.

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. (2) Conviction for cultivation or sale of cannabis to other than minors, when committed prior to the effective date of this chapter, shall not be grounds for denial of an application for a license under this chapter.

1. (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. (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:
   
   
   1. (a) To reimburse the commission for the costs of purchasing, processing, testing, grading, shipping, and selling cannabis; of regulating, inspecting, and auditinglicensees; and of research studies required by this chapter; and,
   2. (b) To reimburse the Attorney General’s office for costs of enforcing this chapter’s criminal provisions.
   3. (c) To reimburse OCLCC contractors for their expenses and labor with 15 percent of gross sales.
   
   
3. (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:
   
   
   1. (a) Ninety percent shall be credited to the state’s general fund to finance state programs.
   2. (b) Eight percent shall be credited to the Department of Human Resources and shall be continually appropriated to fund various drug abuse treatment programs on demand.
   3. (c) One percent shall be credited to create and fund an agricultural state committee for the promotion of Oregon hemp fiber, protein and oil crops and associated industries.
   4. (d) One 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:
      
      
      1. (I) Emphasize a citizen’s rights and duties under our social compact and to explain to students how drug abusers might injure the rights of others by failing to fulfill such duties;
      2. (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,
      3. (III) Persuade students that if, as adults, they choose to consume intoxicants, they must nevertheless responsibly fulfill all duties they owe others.

1. (1) The commission, in consultation with the State Board of Pharmacy, shall set standards which the commission shall apply:
   
   
   1. (a) To test and reject cannabis containing adulterants in concentrations known to harm people;
   2. (b) To grade cannabis potency by measuring the concentrations of psychoactive cannabinoids it contains.
   
   
2. (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.

1. (a) Study methods of use and the potential for, and ill effects of, abuse of cannabis, the possible damage of throat and lungs from inhaling cannabis smoke, less harmful methods of administration, including but not limited to filtration of smoke and non-combustive vaporization of the psychoactive agents in cannabis, and shall report its findings in pamphlets distributed at OCLCC stores;
2. (b) Study cannabis intoxication and, if practicable, shall establish by rule levels of impairment above which a person shall be presumed intoxicated.