Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2016)
HHRSHES YOUR HIGH NEW TAX ON RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA WILL BENEFIT OREGON EDUCATION BY DANI CLIFTON “A lot of people are just going back to the black market, backto their guy.” Last October m any Oregonians had cause for celebration; for the first tim e since form er First Lady N an cy Reagan told us to ‘Just Say N o/ recreational m arijuana was m ade legally available for purchase, tax free, from approximately 400 partic ipating medical dispensaries across the state. T ho ugh m ed ical m ariju ana re m ains tax free, a 25 percent tax was im p lem en ted on a ll recreatio n al sales Jan. 4 o f this year, som ething th a t c a u g h t som e cu sto m ers o ff guard, and has left a few dispensaries smoldering. Ashley Parker, a budtender for Left Coast Connection, isn ’t a fan o f the new tax and the effect it’ s had on her shop. “ A lot o f customers don’t like the new tax. It’ s catching a lot o f people by surprise because it’ s pretty high. We used to have lines out the door and then the day the tax hit — we’ re dead. A lot of people are just going back to the black market, back to their guy.” Oregon Bud Company’ s budtender, A dam V u k e lich , says h e ’ s go tten n o th in g b u t com p laints since the implantation of the new recreational tax, though it hasn’t seemed to de ter m any custom ers from com ing through the door. “ W e’re one of the only dispensaries who m ight have im plemented the tax into the price on the fourth. A lot o f dispensaries ended up adding the tax to the price before the fourth so that their clien tele was already familiar with it, so it w asn’t a shock. Our customers who were used to havin g pretty m uch the best deal in town were kind o f shocked. We are hopeful that taxes will be relieved, in tim e. W e’re just happy to have legal m arijuana.” Private entrepreneur, Joel Sm ith, sells both medical and recreational marijuana, and for many people he is “ their guy.” He has an unlicensed b a ck -d o o r b u sin e ss, b u t n eith er Joel nor his business partners see themselves as drug dealers; instead, they’ re providing a service. Sm ith said, “ People need to be able to get their m edicine, but a lot o f folks are still extremely fearful about the gov ernment coming back on them down the road. They don’t w ant to flash their driver’ s license in that context so they come to people like us; they can get what they need with a good amount o f anonym ity.” But not everyone is so eager to abandon the new ways for the old. Lisa Bradford, a recreational user, has purchased from private vendors for years and doesn’t have an issue w ith the new tax on recreational w ares. “ I believe the tax on weed is a good thing, because 40 percent o f the revenue will go to education and 1 am for anything that brings in funding for our schools. People are going to pay the same for black market weed so why not support our schools, bring back art, music and PE for elementary kids and u p .” N ancy Reagan m igh t be ro llin g over in her grave, but 40 percent o f recreational marijuana tax revenue will go to the Com m on School Fund; 20 percent will go to m ental health, alcoholism and drug services (ORS 430.380); 15 percent to state and local law enforcement respectively, and 5 percent going to the Oregon Health Authority. T hough m ost custom ers w ould prefer a continuance o f tax-free, le gal recreational marijuana, the cur rent tax disbursement plans make it hard to argue against. Though you can’t please everyone, Vukelich puts it best, “ It is what it is .” Qackamas Print FEBRUARY 10,2016 triedackamaspmtcom S
