You are wrong. The people in WA lost their grow rights. With the taxes involved, and shortages of medicine, I don't see that as a viable solution for disabled patients on fixed incomes. The prices I have heard about are exorbitant especially in CO. Taxing cannabis is not going to save the country, industrial hemp maybe. Until then, keep the medical laws (in OR) the way they are.
WA is an odd duck because of the dual-structure, separate markets and rules for medical marijuana and recreational marijuana.
Nobody in WA "lost their grow rights". I-502 did not invalidate existing healthcare recommendations, and patients (or their caregivers) can continue to grow 15 plants each. It is true that WA patients who go to a recreational dispensary faces high prices, but prior to I-502 they could only get it from medical collectives or grow their own, so how are they really any worse off? The high prices on the recreational marijuana market is due to restricted supply, but medical collectives don't face those limits. The only people worse off under I-502 are former-black-market recreational suppliers who can't get a license to operate in the new regime.
With expanded access in CO, demand is outstripping supply. But is it fair to blame the situation on expanded access, or on insufficient supply? How are sick patients there, who previously had to buy meds on the black market or grow their own any worse off? Their limit of 6 per patient seems pretty small. But to say that these new regulation schemes is a step-backwards sounds wrong to me.
Both CO and WA assess sales tax at regular rates, but how is this any different from before (where unregulated participants EVADED sales taxes). I know its not consistent with existing rules to tax agriproducts and/or medicine, but at least it is not a stamp tax. So sales tax assessed only in proportion to the price paid by the end user. If you're getting free weed, you pay zero sales tax.
I don't know what the situation is like in OR, but hopefully they can expand access without hurting medical patients. I see the benefits of expanded access every day here in CA. With such light restrictions on supply, organic labtested ganja is $235/oz. We also don't have to play the cruel "is your ailment serious enough to warrant MJ?" game.
And as far as the cruel ailment game goes, I have not one, not two, but three doctors approving and overseeing my MMJ usage. The "pot doc" that signs your rec has NOTHING on my wellness team which includes my genius GP, my rheumatologist, and my dermatologist. Cannabis is medicine, period.
