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Dispatches from public radio's correspondent at the Oregon Legislature. This is a venue for political and policy coverage of the state government in Salem and its impact on the people of Oregon.

Oregon Cities Consider Taxes On Recreational Marijuana

Katheirne Hitt
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Flickr - tinyurl.com/mobc9zf

Some Oregon cities are setting themselves up for a possible legal battle if Oregon voters approve a marijuana legalization initiative this fall.

Measure 91 would allow adults in Oregon to grow, possess, and sell marijuana under state regulation.

Several cities have approved or are discussing a local tax on legal weed if the measure passes. But it's not clear whether those taxes will be valid.

The ballot measure is written in such a way as to preempt local taxes on recreational marijuana. But cities are hoping that by passing a tax on legal pot before the ballot measure passes that they'll be grandfathered in and that that prohibition on local taxes would not apply to them.

Of course, marijuana would be taxed at the state level in any case if this ballot measure passes

More than a half-dozen Oregon cities are in various stages of implementing a tax on recreational marijuana. Those include Ashland, Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Wilsonville, Springfield, Tigard and Portland.