OREGON HOUSE BILL WOULD TAX MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A Republican Lawmaker Offers Another Suggestion: Have State Grow It

SALEM -- Here's the latest money-raising proposal to come from
lawmakers: a $98 tax on every ounce of medical marijuana sold.

Better yet, says Republican Rep. Ron Maurer, the state should grow
the drug and dispense it to authorized users through pharmacies.

Radical? For sure. Even California, a state where dope dispensaries
run rampant, doesn't have government workers growing pot.

Maurer knows exactly how outrageous his idea sounds. That's why the
health care clinic owner from Grants Pass coaxed two Democrats and a
fellow Republican to sponsor House Bill 3274 with him.

"I'm not a pot guy, but the water's under the bridge. That's not the
issue," Maurer said. "Let's not even discuss that. Let's discuss is
the program working? The answer is unequivocally no, that the program
is not working."

Oregon voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 1998, saying
terminally ill patients should be able to smoke the drug to relieve
their pain. More than 20,000 people hold cards to do so in Oregon,
according to the latest numbers from the Department of Human
Services, which administers the program.

Patients can't buy the drug legally in Oregon -- smoking marijuana
recreationally is not legal in any state -- but can have it grown for
their own use.

Maurer says that's led to a murky situation where the state doesn't
really know who's growing for whom. Patients also don't know if their
marijuana is safe.

The tax would pay for the costs of the program, with a portion to
cities and counties near grow sites. His fellow sponsors are Reps.
Carolyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, Chris Harker, D-Beaverton, and Jim
Thompson, R-Dallas.

Likely, the proposal won't go anywhere, but it will get an airing in committee.

"When we have bipartisan support like that for a bill," says Geoff
Sugerman, spokesman for House Speaker Dave Hunt, "it is typical that
it will at least get the courtesy of a hearing."

Maurer hopes so. He says liberal Democrats like the idea, because
they don't mind taxes and they want to fix the system. And Republicans?

"The most conservative people I've talked to stop and say, 'I don't
like the taxation, but I can tax that.' "