The impending election marks a decade since Oregonians voted to legalize the adult possession and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana and to create a regulated market to grow, process and sell marijuana to adults. This anniversary raises the question of what has the Legislature done to effectuate the hopes and aspirations of those who spent decades advocating for this milestone.
As an advocate — I am a co-author of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act and of the legalization initiative and a cannabis criminal defense and federal forfeiture attorney — allow me to share what some of those hopes and aspirations were.
Besides cannabis, I also like red wine. I have gone on a self-guided wine tours in each of Oregon’s wine regions. I had imagined, post-legalization, going on similar weed farm tours, and being able to sample and purchase directly from the farmer.
During a NORML Legal Committee’s CLE program in Aspen, Colorado, at a benefit dinner held at a private residence, catered by a local chef, desert featured apple crisp and also the other (cannabis-infused) apple crisp. Furthermore, chefs know how to use cannabis oils in ways not overly impairing (no “couch-lock”), largely undetectable by smell and taste, and I imagined quality cannabis-infused food restaurants in Oregon.
Some medical marijuana dispensaries had testing areas where one could sample a strain before purchase. Medical marijuana consumption lounges were busy in Portland and Salem and even the small Southern Oregon town of Phoenix. I imagined ubiquitous adult marijuana lounges.
Also, every so often I would receive an inquiry because the person had “peed dirty” and either lost a job, or didn’t get hired based on the urinalysis testing revealing off-site use. I thought legalization would make this stop.
Lastly, given the focus of my law practice, my advocacy motivation was to never have to stand next to anyone ever again at sentencing for any cannabis crime.
Unfortunately, none of these aspirations are Oregon law. But, Oregon is not the only state to have legalized marijuana; perhaps the experience elsewhere has been different?
The Marijuana Policy Project (a national advocacy organization) has collected legislation from legalized states on two of these issues: employment and social consumption (lounges). Regarding employment discrimination, MPP reports:
“At least nine of the 24 legalization states — California, Connecticut, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Montana, Rhode Island and Washington —have some employment protections for adult-use cannabis consumers. And 22 of the 38 medical cannabis states have some employment protections. These laws only apply to off-hours cannabis use. Every state allows employers to fire workers who are impaired at work.”
Each law includes exemptions for certain kinds of jobs or industries and some include other exemptions.
Regarding social consumption/lounges, MPP reports that 12 legalization states have adopted some form of social consumption legislation: Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York. They differ in whether they require municipalities to opt in; whether they require licensure; whether, where and under what circumstances on-site smoking is allowed; food and drink policies; and whether and under what circumstances alcohol is allowed.
These laws from other states present the opportunity for Oregon to provide these reforms for cannabis consumers without having to reinvent the wheel. At the very least, the 2025 Legislature ought to hold an informational, bicameral hearing on these sorts of laws and create a task force to report back with specific suggestions for laws to create these sorts of consumer rights in the 2027 session.
Leland R. Berger lives in Keizer, Oregon, and practices law statewide from his office in Salem. He is retiring from the practice of law at the end of this calendar year. For his legal and advocacy work related to cannabis, he is the recipient of three Lifetime Achievement Awards, from the Oregon Cannabis Industry Association, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws’ Legal Committee and from the Oregon State Bar’s Cannabis and Psychedelics Law Section.