Oregon Shuts Down Nine “Illegal” Medical Marijuana Clinics

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Nine medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon – six in Portland alone – have been forced to shutter their doors after state officials say they were operating illegally and in opposition to the state’s newly-launched medical marijuana program.
For some, it is because they were too close to schools. Others simply didn’t have a license, or even an application in the works, but kept their doors open anyway.


Oregon has long has unregulated medical cannabis dispensaries, but that changed in March when laws regulating medical cannabis shops went into effect. And the state is serious about their enforcement, too. One Portland dispensary owner has already faced up to $6,500 in civil penalties for things like unregulated sales and on-site consumption. Failing to close down means up to $500 a day in fines in some cases.
Officials didn’t mince words with the latest round of letters to dispensaries, either. Almost all contained the message “You must stop operating as a dispensary immediately” tacked into the letter by the state’s assistant Attorney General.
The shops that were issued letters, according to The Oregonian, are Nature’s Choice Alternative Medicine, 229 Marine Drive, Astoria; Tok, 8001 S.E. 72nd Avenue, Portland; Marijuana Shop, 1316 S.E. Seventh Ave., Portland; Oregon Grown Medical in Veneta; Veterans Alternative Resource Center, 9103 S.W. Barbur Blvd., Portland. Nectar Medicinal Herbs, 1325 N.W. 13th Ave., Portland; Grateful Meds, 8028 S.E. Powell Blvd., No. 106, Portland; Coos County Co-Op, 3682 Tremont Ave., Suite A, North Bend; Rose City Wellness, 3821 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland.
Officials say they have been using online searches and looking in alternative news publications for advertisements for illegal dispensaries and pot sales.

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