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September 4, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 3A State rolls out plans for recreational marijuana ‘All marijuana, all the time’ for licensing agency By Erick Bengel EO Media Group North Coast communities have been scrambling to deal with the fallout, both real and imagined, of Measure 91, which was passed in Novem- ber 2014 and legalizes the use and possession of recre- ational marijuana for Oregon adults. Meanwhile, it has been “all marijuana, all the time,” for the Oregon Liquor Con- trol Commission, according Steven Marks, the agency’s executive director, at a lunch in Astoria Tuesday. With a looming deadline of Jan. 4 to begin accepting applications for licenses to set up marijuana operations, the agency has much to ac- complish in a short amount of time. The agency’s job is pretty simple: Oregon statute gives them a mandate to know what’s going into a product, to track the product along the supply chain and to make the product available to Oregon residents in a sys- tem that the agency licenses and regulates. W h e n it comes to marijua- na, Marks knows the numbers: Of the 2.9 million Ore- gonians over Steven Marks the age of 21, roughly 20 percent have re- ported using marijuana within the last year. Of those users, about 30 percent — medical patients and “super users” — accounts for 70 percent of marijuana consumption in the state. That leaves about 70 per- cent of users — probably rec- reational users, Marks said — responsible for the remaining 30 percent of consumption. Unlike Colorado and Washington — the ¿rst two states to legalize recreation- al pot — “we have a high- ly evolved marijuana grow community,” in part, because the plant is easier to grow out- doors in Oregon, Marks said. “In Oregon, we’re transfer- ring an industry in from an illegal to a legal system.” Sounds simple enough. But “simple” doesn’t mean “easy.” In the pipeline On the policy side, the agency needs to ¿nalize the rules for licensing marijua- na businesses and tracking product from grower to mar- ket. These rules must be in place before the agency can set up the online licensing application and fee system. The agency recently an- nounced 30 new full-time positions. A handful of these positions are policy-based while the bulk are responsi- ble for licensing and inspec- tions. The agency hopes to have each spot ¿lled by ear- ly October and the person- nel trained on the new rules and system-to-be-developed before November, Marks said. Then there’s the “seed to sale” system for keeping tabs on the marijuana itself. “Seed to sale” will re- quire the barcoding of viable seedlings. The agency can then track a batch’s loca- tion, including who grew it and where. This is, in fact, a standard held to all legal consumables for the sake of consumer protection, one that allows for prod- uct recalls and the ability to trace the product back to its source. “Seed to sale” also helps ensure that a licensee main- tains compliance with the U.S. Department of Jus- tice’s “Cole Memorandum,” which spells out the federal government’s marijuana-re- lated prohibitions. These include not selling weed to minors and keeping the drug off the black market. “We want to see people who can play by the rules, and who play by the rules even when markets are tougher,” Marks said. He added that “seed to sale” serves as a substitute for the three-tiered system the OLCC applies to alcohol but not to marijuana. Someone involved in the distribution of alcohol must be licensed as a producer or a wholesaler or a retailer, but never more than one at a time. But someone involved in distributing marijuana can be licensed in any number of capacities at once: grow- er, processor, wholesaler, retailer, laboratory tester, researcher, etc. This compli- cates the agency’s ability to follow product, a de¿ciency for which the barcoding of plants may compensate. Though the agency has been moving at full speed in recent months, “there hasn’t been resistance to doing this,” Ranee Niedermeyer, OLCC government affairs and communications direc- City Manager Mark Win- stanley doesn’t know if the City Council will allow them to sell recreational marijuana come October. Cannon Beach’s business license application doesn’t allow for businesses that vi- olate federal law, so, at the moment, medical and recre- ational marijuana facilities are off the table since mari- juana remains federally ille- gal. Once the OLCC starts accepting applications in January, the agency will likely prioritize the licens- ing of growers so that they can to get their product to retail sooner rather than lat- er, Marks said. The agency will then start licensing retail around fall 2016, he said. One pressing question hasn’t gone unmentioned within the agency: Will the Oregon Liquor Control Com- mission change its name? The agency hasn’t tak- en a position, Marks said. However, some people have Àoated the suggestion “Or- egon Liquor and Cannabis Control” commission. It would be cost-ef¿cient at any rate: the commission wouldn’t necessarily have to change the acronym on its letterhead. tor, said. “People know it’s hard, but they’re in there, and they’re doing it.” Hashing out details Once hired and trained, the new OLCC workforce won’t have a great deal to confront on the North Coast — at least not right away. Astoria has three of¿cial- ly licensed medical marijua- na shops, and when Oregon Senate Bill 460 kicks in Oct. 1, the shops will be allowed to sell recreational marijua- na. Across the bay in Warren- ton, however, the City Com- mission voted not to allow medical marijuana dispensa- ries to sell recreational mar- ijuana. Warrenton doesn’t have any medical marijuana dispensaries operating. Neither does Gearhart, and there are none in the works, according to Gearhart City Manager Chad Sweet. However, in October 2014, the city voted to implement a 5 percent tax on gross sales of marijuana and marijua- na-infused products to card- holders under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, and a 10 percent tax on gross sales to non-cardholders. Seaside has two medical marijuana dispensaries, but Big weekend storm wallops the coast EO Media Group The Seaside Signal is published every other week by EO Media Group, 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside Oregon 97138. 503-738-5561. www.seasidesignal.com PUBLISHER CIRCULATION MANAGER EDITOR SYSTEMS MANAGER REPORTER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Steve Forrester R.J. Marx Katherine Lacaze Heather Ramsdell Carl Earl ADVERTISING MANAGER Betty Smith Claire Lovell John Rahl Darren Gooch Esther Moberg PRODUCTION MANAGER ADVERTISING SALES John D. Bruijn Laura Kaim Wendy Richardson Letter policy The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the editor. The deadline is noon Monday prior to publication. Letters must be 400 words or less and must be signed by the author and include a phone number for YHUL¿FDWLRQ :H DOVR UHTXHVW that submissions be limited to one letter per month. Send to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside, OR 97138, drop them off at 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive or fax to 503-738- 9285. Or email nmccarthy@ seasidesignal.com SUBSCRIPTIONS Annually: $40.50 in county • $58.00 in and out of county • e-Edition: only $30.00 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Seaside Signal, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103. 3RVWDJH3DLGDW6HDVLGH25DQGDWDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRI¿FHV&RS\ULJKWE\WKH Seaside Signal. No portion of this newspaper may be re-produced without written permission. All rights reserved. A storm blew over the North Coast last week- end, blowing down trees, wreaking havoc on the Hood to Coast Relay ¿n- ish, stripping the Astoria Column restoration and closing access to Coxcomb Hill. Saturday’s storm toppled several trees, along with many limbs and branches, in Cannon Beach, accord- ing to Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn. There was a tree downed near Les Shirley Park, an- other on Ecola Park Road and three on the highway in midtown. “The dayshift of¿cer was kept busy responding to these incidents,” he said. After a calm Friday, a hurricane-like swarm of clouds brought winds gusting as high as 85 mph down on the Lower Co- lumbia region. The Na- tional Weather Service increased its previous gale warning to a storm, re- maining in effect through noon Saturday. By late Saturday morn- ing, gusts were reported as high as 84.8 mph on Radar Ridge in Paci¿c Wash. County, 78.2 over the As- toria Bridge, 70 mph on Washington’s Cape Dis- appointment and 60 mph above Clatsop Spit. The winds built seas to between 14 and 16 feet, closing the Columbia River Bar to rec- reational traf¿c, and with it much of the Buoy 10 salm- on ¿shery. A gale warning remained in effect through Saturday night. The winds stripped off tarps on the scaffolding placed around the Astoria Column for its restoration and blew down trees and closed access to Coxcomb Drive through the week- end. Meanwhile, Hood to Coast organizers in Sea- side had to cancel the re- lay’s beach after-party and establish gathering space inside the Shilo Inn. The storm knocked out power to nearly 3,600 res- idents around Astoria Sat- urday, along with others on the Long Beach Wash. Peninsula and in South County. The winds stayed above 20 mph at the National Weather Service’s moni- toring station at the Astoria Regional Airport between 3 a.m. and 7 p.m. Another smaller storm surge kept winds between 10 and 15 mph between 12:40 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday. The National Weather Service forecasts at least a 50 percent chance of show- ers through Wednesday, with gusts as high as 20 mph. HOTEL M A N A GER The S ea s hore In n on the Bea ch in S ea s id e, O reg on is look in g for a Hotel M a n a g er. The Hotel M a n a g er w ill be res p on s ible for the overa ll op era tion of the In n . The m a n a g er w ill fu lly p a rticip a te in the op era tion of the 54 room hotel, in clu d in g s ta ffin g the fron t d es k , g u es t in tera ction s , a s s is tin g s ta ff a s n eed ed a n d m ore. Fu ll tim e, yea r rou n d p os ition w ith m ed ica l, d en ta l, 401K ben efits a n d p a id va ca tion tim e. Com p etitive S a la ry. 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