It's been nearly two years since Oregonians said yes to legalizing marijuana for recreational use, yet voters in dozens of places across the state will weigh in again in November.

Fifty-three communities from Lake Oswego to Pendleton will consider a range of questions that, in essence, boil down to whether they should allow legal marijuana businesses within their borders.

The flurry of local ballot measures underscores that even in Oregon -- the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana more than four decades ago and home to a long-established medical marijuana program -- legal pot remains a tough sell for some.

"What these votes in these small places mean is we are not comfortable as a state with taking that last step to legalization," said Jim Moore, director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University. "Clearly, we had a vote. The vote said yes, but a lot of people voted no and they are finding out that they can act on that no."

Like Washington and Colorado, the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, Oregon gives local communities a say in whether they want legal marijuana in their hometowns.

It's not just recreational marijuana businesses voters will consider on Nov. 8. Thirty-eight cities and counties will also vote on whether to allow medical marijuana processors and retailers.

Local control provisions are part of legalization measures up for a vote this fall in five states -- Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and California, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization that advocates for legalization and helped draft the Colorado's 2012 law.

In Colorado, 189 communities have imposed some type of prohibition on marijuana businesses. In Washington, an estimated 107 communities prohibit state-licensed marijuana businesses or have temporary bans, though most of the state's larger cities have opted into the industry, which generates an estimated $4.4 million in sales a day.

As the marijuana industry in both states has evolved, some communities have eased their restrictions. For instance, leaders of Thornton, a city north of Denver, recently reversed course and began accepting applications from marijuana retailers.

And in Washington, legislators last year passed a law offering local communities a share of marijuana tax revenue as an incentive to open their doors to the industry, said Jim Doherty, legal consultant for the Municipal Research and Services Center, which conducts research for local governments in that state.

Some local leaders, he said, initially worried about "secondary effects" from marijuana shops, but over time the establishments turned out to resemble liquor stores.

"People go in, they shop and they leave," Doherty said. "It's not like people are hanging around with long hair and in hippie vans out front."

In Oregon, the rules around how a community opts out of the regulated marijuana industry are complicated.

City councils and county commissions where at least 55 percent of voters opposed the state's 2014 legalization measure had a window when they could impose bans on production and sales.

Under that provision, 53 communities, all in eastern Oregon, moved to block marijuana businesses. They needed to take action by last December.

Since December, however, any local government interested in opting out, even those that met the 55 percent threshold, must put the issue to a vote during the general election in November.

Sources: Oregon Liquor Control Commission, Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Department of Revenue

Grant and Klamath counties were among the communities to impose bans. Local marijuana activists collected enough signatures to put measures on the May ballot that would have repealed them. Voters in both counties decisively rejected those efforts.

Bans are on the November ballot in 47 cities and six counties.

Recent polling by DHM Research, a non-partisan opinion research firm with an office in Portland, found that 60 percent of Oregon voters oppose local bans on recreational marijuana shops. While 67 percent of Portland area voters reject bans, the poll found that 54 percent voters outside of the metro area do as well.

The poll, which DHM Research paid for, did not address medical marijuana retailers.

Advocates for cannabis legalization say local bans are unfair to consumers who will end up driving elsewhere to shop. And they wonder why local communities would choose to miss out on extra tax revenue and jobs.

For John Sajo, a longtime marijuana activist in rural Douglas County, blocking the newly legal industry only hurts the cash-strapped county where medical marijuana production already flourishes. The latest Oregon Health Authority statistics show the county is home to 1,194 medical marijuana grow sites.

Douglas County voters this fall will decide whether to allow medical and recreational processing and retail facilities. They will also weigh whether to permit licensed recreational cannabis production.

"Marijuana is already here," Sajo said. "The question is: Are we going to get the tax revenue and the industry, the regulated industry, which will be larger scale than the current medical grows?"

Oregon collected an estimated $25.5 million in cannabis tax revenue through the end of July. Revenue from marijuana sales is supposed to be divvied up among a variety of programs, including 10 percent for city law enforcement and another 10 percent for county law enforcement.

Local communities that opt out of regulated recreational marijuana won't get the local law enforcement money. They also can't capitalize on the up to 3 percent additional tax local governments may impose on recreational marijuana sales.

Local leaders who want to impose that tax have to put the question to voters.

According to the Oregon Department of Revenue, a local tax is on the ballot in 106 communities, including Portland, where officials conservatively estimated it will generate $3 million to $5 million a year.

The DMH poll found that most Oregon voters support a local tax on recreational marijuana sales.

"Though some may not view legalization positively in the abstract, an overwhelming majority believe their communities should seek benefits in the form of increased tax revenues," said John Horvick, the firm's vice president and political director.

The local tax is on top of the 17 percent tax the state will impose on recreational sales starting when the Oregon Liquor Control Commission begins regulating the market later this year.

For some local officials, the prospect of additional revenue isn't enough to overcome deep reservations about legal marijuana.

In Lake Oswego, where voters will consider whether to reverse a moratorium on recreational marijuana businesses as well as whether to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, Mayor Kent Studebaker said the city would miss out on "maybe tens of thousands of dollars" by rejecting marijuana businesses.

"That is a choice we make," Studebaker said. "It's a larger question than just revenue. I am talking about what's right for the community."

In Marion County, where 51.7 percent of voters rejected the state's marijuana legalization measure in 2014, Commissioner Kevin Cameron said commissioners decided to ask voters: "Is this something that you changed your mind on or still say no to?"

Voters will decide whether to allow medical marijuana processors and new dispensaries in unincorporated Marion County. They'll also consider whether to permit recreational cannabis businesses, including producers, processors, wholesalers and shops.

A local tax is on the ballot as well in case voters approve recreational pot sales.

For his part, Cameron said he wants to take "as much time as possible" to see how the industry evolves before letting in marijuana businesses.

"We have to do it to protect the kids and the people," he said.

Besides, he said, marijuana isn't exactly a scarce commodity.

"Has there been a shortage?" he asked. "Have you heard anyone complain about a shortage of recreational marijuana in Marion County?"

Further complicating the issue, some supporters of bans are preparing for the possibility that voters may end up saying yes to marijuana businesses.

Places like Lake Oswego and Marion County, for instance, have drafted regulations for where retail stores could operate.

In Oregon City, where voters will weigh a ban on medical and recreational stores and processors along with a potential tax in case sales are approved, Mayor Dan Holladay said he doesn't have "strong feelings one way or another" on whether pot sales should be allowed.

"The strong feeling I have is if the voters of Oregon City say they want that, the regulation should be as non-restrictive as possible," he said. "This is just another business."

-- Noelle Crombie

503-276-7184; @noellecrombie