Breaking Down The Regulatory Differences Between West Coast Cannabis Markets

[Robrites]

The West Coast is looking mighty green these days. As of Jan. 1, 2018, when California joins the growing list of states with legalized recreational cannabis markets, adults 21 years and older will be able to legally purchase, possess and consume marijuana from the Arctic Circle all the way down to the California-Mexico border.
Altogether, eight states and Washington, D.C., have voted to legalize recreational marijuana since 2012. Six of those states — Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada and Washington — are in the West.
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But since legalization has happened at the state level, understanding what is and isn’t allowed in each state can be difficult to figure out.
For example, at Ivy Cannabis on Portland’s Hayden Island in the Columbia River, a customer can purchase up to 5 grams of marijuana concentrates. But a mere 2.4 miles to the north, just off of Interstate 5 in Vancouver, Washington’s Arnada neighborhood, that same adult is allowed to purchase up to 7 grams of concentrate at High End Market Place.
That’s just one example of how each state’s recreational laws differ from one another. To help clear up the confusion, we’ve answered some basic questions about the differences between California’s, Oregon’s and Washington’s recreational markets below.
Who Can Legally Buy Cannabis In California, Oregon And Washington?

This is one area where these three legalized states are in agreement: Adults 21 years of age and older can purchase, possess and consume cannabis. This includes non-residents. Transporting cannabis across state lines, however, remains illegal. Having a valid state or federal ID on hand is a must as each state requires strict adherence to the age requirement.
Legalized sales aren’t set to begin in California until Jan. 1, 2018, when the state starts issuing licenses to stores, processors and distributors. This means it could be tricky for many Golden State residents to find a spot to buy legal marijuana on New Year’s Day.
What Can I Buy And How Much Of It?

What people can purchase and how much of it tends to vary from state to state.
Washington and Oregon, for example, share the same limits on how much marijuana flower (1 ounce) an adult can purchase in a single day, as well as limits on how much infused cannabis edibles (16 ounces) and infused beverages (72 ounces) can be purchased per day. How much marijuana concentrates and extracts a person can buy differs between the two states: Oregon allows up to 5 grams per day and Washington allows up to 7 grams per day.
California also allows for the purchase of up to 1 ounce of marijuana flower, but it has different rules when it comes to concentrates and edibles. The limit for cannabis extract jumps up to 8 grams at a time in the Golden State.
Each state also has various standards for potency of edibles. In Oregon, a package of edibles can contain up to 50 milligrams of THC — the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana that gets users high — not to exceed 5 milligrams per serving. Those limits double in California and Washington to 100 milligrams and 10 milligrams, respectively.

Read More https://www.opb.org/news/article/ca...nia-oregon-washington-laws-rules-regulations/

 

[MJPassion]

Interesting article.

Would be nice if it included more than just those 3 states. Especially considering that there’s 3 states in the West left to tie the entire Western USA together. Well... & getting a few on board w rec...

 

[Robrites]

 

[Betterhaff]

Anything on possession limits?

 

[trichrider]

Anything on possession limits?

ooops, not in first post.
my bad

 

[aridbud]

Excellent graphics, Robrites. Thanks for the article.

 

[soil margin]

How do they plan to enforce the 1 ounce a day rule? Without some kind of electronic tracking system I could just go buy 1 ounce a day from every dispensary in the city which would be like a pound+ a day. These rules don't make any sense to me whatsoever and I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

How do they plan to enforce the 1 ounce a day rule? Without some kind of electronic tracking system I could just go buy 1 ounce a day from every dispensary in the city which would be like a pound+ a day. These rules don't make any sense to me whatsoever and I don't understand what they are trying to accomplish.

Its pointless bullshit government people put in place to assert their authority, they use it to justify their cash theft. The seed possession laws in Oregon are pretty sever so watch out on that, a single one of those 13 seed DJ Short packs could get you 6 months in jail, cause we legalized weed an all that.
There is far more enforcement of the extremely strict cannabis laws now that we have legalization, they spend almost all of the tax money on hiring more cops or other oppressive state law enforcement.
They put red lights cameras up "just at a few dangerous intersections" but now they're all over the place and the cameras were reprogrammed to give out speeding tickets too.
Armed autonomous drones hunting people was just for terrorists in Afghanistan ten years ago, but now they do it in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming too.
Innumerable data surveillance techniques which were once just for the military and espionage agencies to use on evil foreigners are now used by the local police, all of whom have already had the military indoctrination necessary to use them on civilians.

I felt a lot more free back when weed was illegal, maybe legal drugs have made me paranoid.

 

[soil margin]

Its pointless bullshit government people put in place to assert their authority.

Yeah that's pretty much my take on it as well. I would understand if they made really strict rules that actually accomplished something, but how is limiting the strength of edibles and how much weed I can buy in a day going to do anything?

It's like they write laws just for the sake of writing laws. I definitely preferred the medical system we've had here in Cali since 1996, but who knows, maybe with a little more time some of the stupid laws will get repealed and legalization will actually be a good thing.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Yeah that's pretty much my take on it as well. I would understand if they made really strict rules that actually accomplished something, but how is limiting the strength of edibles and how much weed I can buy in a day going to do anything?

It's like they write laws just for the sake of writing laws. I definitely preferred the medical system we've had here in Cali since 1996, but who knows, maybe with a little more time some of the stupid laws will get repealed and legalization will actually be a good thing.

Take a closer look at the history of the states that preceded California in recreational legalization before you decide to go with the "it will all work out in the end" attitude. Imagine all of the people in WA who used to legally grow their own, do you think that they're continuing to do so illegally now that they're on a state list of people who used to grow cannabis but are no longer legally allowed to? You think those who still grow are shitting a few extra bricks? What reasonable expectation have you been given that Cali will be any different?

I am Governor Jerry Brown
my aura smiles And never frowns…

 

[EastFortRock]

Its pointless bullshit government people put in place to assert their authority, they use it to justify their cash theft. The seed possession laws in Oregon are pretty sever so watch out on that, a single one of those 13 seed DJ Short packs could get you 6 months in jail, cause we legalized weed an all that.]
wow! I didn't know they created a seed limt! It's pretty easy to go over ten seeds ! 2500 dollar fine and up to 6 months in jail!

 

[soil margin]

That seed limit sounds fucking insane. What if I buy weed that has seeds in it without knowing there are seeds in it? They can seriously give me 6 months in jail for that? I thought Oregon was the liberal weed state. That sounds like some fascist shit.

 

[frostqueen]

That seed limit sounds fucking insane. What if I buy weed that has seeds in it without knowing there are seeds in it? They can seriously give me 6 months in jail for that? I thought Oregon was the liberal weed state. That sounds like some fascist shit.

Oregon's entire cannabis system is now run by the OLCC, which is the same cartel that runs the alcohol system for the state; the same group that has brought us parts-per-billion pesticide testing, the banning of 'kid-friendly' names for cannabis like Girl Scout Cookies, and brilliant new draconian seed laws for no apparent reason. Oregon's laws are a fucking regulatory trainwreck.

 

[soil margin]

Oregon's laws are a fucking regulatory trainwreck.

It seems that way but it's surprising to me. I was at the MJBiz conference in Vegas last month and this guy from Dewey Farms in Oregon was telling me all about how easy it is to get a cultivation permit and was trying to sell me on how laid back/liberal the cannabis laws are compared to everywhere else. Guess he was a little off base.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Its pointless bullshit government people put in place to assert their authority, they use it to justify their cash theft. The seed possession laws in Oregon are pretty sever so watch out on that, a single one of those 13 seed DJ Short packs could get you 6 months in jail, cause we legalized weed an all that.]
wow! I didn't know they created a seed limt! It's pretty easy to go over ten seeds ! 2500 dollar fine and up to 6 months in jail!

Yeah, they change the weed laws every couple weeks, you'd have to devote a large fraction of your life to wrap your head around all of them and keep up to date. If you don't you never can tell when you'll run afoul of the state's extremely strict, detailed and severe regulations.
Good thing we legalized it, now the profits from our former "black market" economy can go to something more worthwhile, profits for out of state business owners and taxes which get deposited in an account in New York to help pay for PERS. We already send like half of our weed to NY, what the fuck.

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

It seems that way but it's surprising to me. I was at the MJBiz conference in Vegas last month and this guy from Dewey Farms in Oregon was telling me all about how easy it is to get a cultivation permit and was trying to sell me on how laid back/liberal the cannabis laws are compared to everywhere else. Guess he was a little off base.

That guy is bending over and taking in the can so hard from the government that you have to assume he is on more than enough medication to be entirely out of touch with reality. Not disparage your friend Uncle Tom, if you ever need a mule with several kilos of carrying capacity he is probably the best, but being on the hook for several life sentences the second AG Sessions gets the whim and letting the state government hold all the evidence has probably lead him into sleeping pill abuse.