SALEM-Supporters of a proposed initiative to legalize marijuana in Oregon on Friday turned in another large batch of signatures and expressed confidence that they will qualify for the November ballot.

Paul Stanford, the Portland-based owner of a chain of medical marijuana clinics, said proponents have now turned in a total of 165,000 signatures for an

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To qualify for the ballot, sponsors of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act need 87,213 valid signatures from registered voters. Stanford said an earlier turn-in of signatures showed a validity rate of just under 59 percent. He said he's confident that proponents increased the validity rate on the last 60,000 signature they gathered.

The deadline for turning in signatures for the November ballot is at 5 p.m. Friday. Elections officials have until Aug. 5 to to decide which initiatives have qualified for the ballot.

Stanford argued that legalizing marijuana would create thousands of jobs in the state and provide millions of dollars of additional tax revenue. He largely financed the petition drive with profits from his medical marijuana clinic and said he hoped to attract as much as $4 million for a fall campaign from national proponents of marijuana legalization.

One major supporter of the marijuana initiative is the Oregon local of the United Food and Commercial Workers.

Jeff Anderson, the secretary-treasurer of the union's Local 555, said that the union sees major job opportunities in marijuana retailing as well as the production and processing of hemp.

Stanford acknowledged that if the measure passes, it will inevitably face a lawsuit saying that it violates federal law. He said the measure was written to improve its prospects of surviving such a legal challenge.

Washington and Colorado also will have marijuana legalization measures on their statewide ballots.

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