Multnomah County Issues Report to Fight Underage Use of Legal Marijuana
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Brendan Murray, GoLocalPDX Contributor
A report from the Multnomah County Health Department recommends that lawmakers implement policies that raise awareness about consuming marijuana while pregnant or breastfeeding, limit the potency of recreationally available marijuana and prevent impaired driving, underage use and dependence.
Julia Dilley, a senior research scientist with the county health department and the Oregon Health Authority, as well as the report’s lead author, told GoLocal that to fight against dependence on and underage use of cannabis, public health organizations are relying on methods and techniques that have already shown success.
“We’re looking at policy approaches that have worked for alcohol and tobacco,” Dilley said. “We want to replicate how those systems worked when we talk about this as a public health issue.”
Concerns About Marijuana and Driving
Dilley said one of the health department’s main concerns is monitoring the effects of marijuana on drivers. As of now, no test for determining whether a person is under the influence of the drug, such as breath tests for alcohol impairment, exists, making it more difficult to prove impairment.
Sgt. Peter Simpson with the Portland Police Bureau told GoLocal last week that the Bureau would also be on the lookout for those who drive under the influence of marijuana. He said the Bureau would conduct field sobriety tests blood tests to determine whether or not a driver is impaired. Blood tests can produce positive results for marijuana even if the subject has not consumed any for weeks.
“We’re concerned about people who drive after consuming marijuana,” Simpson said, pointing out that mixing multiple drugs, such as alcohol and marijuana, can strengthen their impairing effects. “We’re asking that people be smart and careful about the inebriation that comes from consuming marijuana.”
Finding Evidence of Marijuana's Heatlh Effects
The Health Department made the recommendations in response to the start of recreational marijuana sales, which began last week. It was created to help the county set policies related to legal recreational marijuana use.
“This is still such a new system that we’re hesitant to say too much that’s definitive,” Dilley said. “The recommendations we landed on came from reviewing the evidence from studies that show a clear link between marijuana and adverse health effects.”
The report also included possible actions that have been endorsed by the American Public Health Association and other experts. Among them are employing tobacco prevention methods in order to keep children and teenagers from smoking marijuana, increasing public education about the risks of long-term marijuana use and dependence and establishing procedures for product quality standards and food safety inspection for marijuana-infused drinks and foods.
Risk During Pregnancy
Mothers who consume marijuana during pregnancy or breastfeeding risk passing on some of the THC they intended for their body to their baby’s
“During pregnancy and breastfeeding it's one of those areas where studies have been mixed,” Dilley said, noting that the county health department felt the need to recommend this measure in order to protect a potential risk to a vulnerable population. “What we do think is that THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, is passed to the baby via breast milk or other factors. We don’t know what effect that has yet.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana use during pregnancy has been shown to cause gaps in problem-solving skills, memory, and the ability to remain attentive.
Potency
The health department’s plan also calls for policies “that limit product contaminants and high or unknown product potency.”
Dilley said that the potency of marijuana, which measures how much THC is contained in a particular sample of the drug, has been on the rise as of late. She said the health department is concerned about cannabis products that do not explicitly explain how potent its contents are.
“Some packaging, particularly for concentrates or edible products, is not very clear on exactly how much marijuana was used to make it or how strong that marijuana was,” Dilley said. “That can lead to a lot of adverse health effects, particularly for people who aren’t as experienced with marijuana.”
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Employers Still Can—And Will—Drug Test
Many of the state’s largest employers, including Fred Meyer, Intel, Bi-Mart and Dairy Queen, will still test for marijuana, despite its new legal status. Companies that employ heavy equipment operators are required to buy insurance, and typically require drug testing.
Often, even companies that employ workers who operate machinery while simultaneously employing workers who do not will test, as the company will receive a lower monthly deductible if they test all of their employees across the board.
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Only a Quarter-Ounce per Customer, Please
Dispensaries will only be allowed to sell a quarter-ounce of marijuana per customer, per day. Residents are allowed different amounts for travel and home storage.
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Child Proof Packaging
Dispensaries, in addition to their limits on sales per person, also must package their recreational marijuana in a particular way. It must be placed in an opaque bag that is smell and child-proof.
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Can I Grow Cannabis at My House?
Those with a green thumb will be permitted to grow their own marijuana for private consumption. They are only allowed four plants per person, however, and each must be obscured from public view.
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How Much Can I Have at My House?
Residents will be allowed to keep plenty of dry marijuana (flowers or leaves that are ready to be smoked) in their home. They are allowed to store eight ounces, more than thirty times the purchasing limits, in their home.
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How Much Can I Travel With?
Traveling restrictions are stricter than regulations for home storage. Adults are able to travel with up to one ounce, or four times the purchase limit, on their person.
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Driving Under the Influence
Unlike the Washington law, which included attached regulations concerning driving impairment, Oregon’s law has more room for interpretation.
Driving under the influence of marijuana is classified as a Class B Traffic Violation, which carries a presumptive fine of $260 and is not to exceed maximum fine of $2,000. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has been tasked with researching the subject of drugged driving and presenting its finding to the Oregon Legislative Assembly no later than January 2017.
After reviewing the OLCC report, the state legislative assembly will decide whether passing more extensive driving regulations will be necessary.
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No Smoking in Public
Yes, marijuana is legal. No, that does not mean you can light up in the middle of the street. Consumption is only allowed out of the public view.
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Where will the New Tax Money Go?
Where will the tax money go?
Measure 91, the ballot measure passed last year that legalized marijuana in Oregon, stipulates that the tax revenue collected from recreational sales will be divided up in the following ways:
40 percent- Common School Fund
20 percent- Mental Health Alcoholism and Drug Services
15 percent- Oregon State Police
10 percent- Counties for enforcement of the measure
10 percent- Cities for enforcement of the measure
5 percent- Oregon Health Authority for drug abuse prevention
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Where You Can Buy Marijuana
Already licensed medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to sell recreationally beginning on October 1, although not every dispensary will sell recreationally.
For a full list of those that have been approved to sell to the public, click here.
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Not Everywhere
While marijuana is now legal for recreational use in the state of Oregon, some individual communities have passed laws banning recreational marijuana facilities from opening. Consumption will still be legal in these areas, but sales will not.
For a full list of cities that have passed these bans, click here.
Photo: Downtown Baker City; via Wikimedia Commons
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What to Do at a Dispensary
First time at a dispensary? No worries, said Meghan Walstatter, Owner of Pure Green Dispensary. Just ask plenty of questions to staff to ease all of your concerns.
Photo: Pure Green Dispensary
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Budtenders-Bartenders for Weed
Have questions as you make your purchase? No problem, just ask your friendly budtender. The cannabis industry’s answer to bartenders, budtenders are knowledgeable about the different strains and types of marijuana and their effects and are ready and eager to help novice smokers.
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Cannabis Indica
Indica, along with its sister sativa, are one of the two main types of cannabis. Each has their own unique effects on its user. Indica strains are known for relieving physical pain and giving users a sleepy, lethargic feeling.
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Cannabis Sativa
Sativa strains are the counter to indica strains.They are known for as a more mental stimulation, giving users more creative and sometimes, more focus
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Hybrids
The best of both worlds. At least, that’s what hybrids claim to be. They combine the properties of an indica strain and a sativa strain, by allowing users to feel relaxed, but not sleepy.
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Bring Cash
While some dispensaries do accept credit card, most do not, according to Leah Maurer, Co-chair of Women’s Grow. Make sure to bring some cash if you plan to purchase some cannabis today.
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How to Store your Cannabis
Concerned about storing your new marijuana in your home around your family? Maurer said to store it as you would alcohol or prescription drugs, away from the reach of children and teenagers.
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Don’t Cross State Lines
It will still be illegal to transport marijuana across state lines. That restriction even includes those crossing the Columbia River into Washington, where marijuana is also legal. Marijuana is classified as a Scheduled I controlled substance, meaning that anyone transporting it across line is prosecutable by Federal agencies
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Make Sure to Talk to Your Kids
It's likely that children and young adults will see more cannabis, and cannabis consumption, now that recreational sales have begun. Maurer said to make sure you have an honest, frank conversation about the benefits and consequences of the substance.