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Several legislators on the Joint Committee on Implementing Measure 91 finish holding an impromptu negotiating session Monday outside their committee room.

(Jeff Mapes|The Oregonian)

Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, moving to end a legislative impasse over a sweeping medical marijuana measure, on Wednesday created a special Senate committee to deal with the issue.

The new committee is charged with moving a measure through the Senate that is aimed at cracking down on black-market diversions by medical marijuana growers. The House-Senate committee on implementing the marijuana legalization initiative approved by voters has been deadlocked over the issue of how much power to give cities and counties to ban medical marijuana dispensaries and processors in their areas.

Sen. Ginny Burdick, who co-chairs the House-Senate panel and will chair the new Senate committee, said she thinks she can win a strong bipartisan majority on the Senate floor -- which she said could help sway the House.

Burdick, D-Portland, and other Senate members of the marijuana committee support allowing city and county governments to bar medical marijuana facilities. Citizens could challenge it by collecting 4 percent of the vote in the last governor's race in their localities allowing them to place the issue on the ballot.

In contrast, a majority of the House members on the marijuana committee say they want any local ban to automatically go to a vote of the people. They say they want to ensure that medical marijuana patients don't lose access to the drug.

Burdick said she is trying to schedule a meeting of the new Senate committee on Monday. She said senators plan to amend Senate Bill 964 with their language on medical marijuana.

-- Jeff Mapes

503-221-8209

@Jeffmapes