Oregon’s Senate Rules Committee approved House Bill 3460 today, sending the proposal to the full Senate; the measure has already been approved by the state’s House of Representatives. Under this legislation, medical cannabis dispensaries will be authorized to operate as state-licensed entities, and will be protected from arrest and prosecution. so long as they follow certain guidelines, such as testing for pesticides and molds. If the proposal is passed and put into effect, roughly 200 dispensaries will be authorized to open throughout the state.

This proposal is a needed and significant step in the right direction, and will provide thousands of patients with safe access to their medicine; under current Oregon law medical cannabis is legal, but safe access points are not, forcing most patients to obtain their medicine through the black-market or through the several local access points which are regularly-raided by local police given that dispensaries aren’t legal. House Bill 3460 would solve this problem by authorizing dispensaries.

A vote on this measure is expected from the full Senate this coming week. If it’s approved, it will head to the governor for final consideration.

– TheJointBlog