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Washington County is preparing a one-year ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

Washington County is preparing a one-year ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

The Board of Commissioners agreed during a worksession Tuesday that authorizing staff to draft an ordinance on the issue qualified as an "emergency."

So far, Beaverton, Sherwood and Tigard have established similar temporary bans. Hillsboro will hold a public hearing on marijuana facilities next week. A state registry for medical marijuana dispensaries was launched earlier this month. But the Legislature passed a bill this session that allows cities and counties to regulate the facilities.

Local governments can impose one-year bans, but they need to do so no later than May 1.



The county’s moratorium would largely affect unincorporated areas because cities have their own rules.

Washington County Sheriff Pat Garrett gave a presentation during which he told commissioners they had two options: either impose a one-year moratorium on all marijuana facilities, or establish restrictions related to “time, place and manner.”

Garrett gave six arguments in support of the ban:

The Oregon Health Authority has six employees responsible with enforcing regulations at the dispensaries, the sheriff said. Colorado, by comparison, has more than two dozen employees. “I am very concerned there will be little to no credible enforcement of regulations,” Garrett said.

Most marijuana operators and distributors aren’t required to have licenses, the sheriff said, which “makes it a mystery around who will be dispensing marijuana in our community.”

The state doesn’t require dispensaries to collaborate with local authorities. Garrett said he’s concerned the sheriff’s office might encounter the same kind of problems with marijuana facilities as it has with some night-club owners and local apartment building owners.

Butane hash oil is highly flammable and might lead to explosions, Garrett said.

Some marijuana products have inappropriate labeling.

Six cities in the county already have moratoriums in place. “If Washington County imposes no regulation when a vast majority of our cities have moratoriums, then dispensaries will simply pop up, I believe, just outside cities across the county,” Garrett said.

At first, the commissioners and County Counsel Alan Rappleyea said the May 1 deadline would not give them enough time to draft and adopt the land-use ordinance that would impose the ban.

But then they decided to try. Just half an hour later, during the public meeting, the board authorized staff to file an ordinance for a one-year ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

That would give the county enough time to fine-tune permanent regulations related to the dispensaries’ “time, place and manner,” commissioners said.

-- Simina Mistreanu