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| Ellen Rosenblum |
| Ellen Rosenblum, candidate for Oregon AG: “As Attorney General, I will make marijuana enforcement a low priority, and protect the rights of medical marijuana patients” |
By Michael Bachara
As Oregon moves closer toward marijuana legalization in November with the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) and the Oregon Marijuana Policy Initiative 2012 (OMPI 2012) petition drives, the race for Oregon Attorney General on May 15 between Appeals Court Judge Ellen Rosenblum and former acting U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton will be crucial to the implementation of the cannabis legalization initiatives.
Earlier this month, in a debate at the Eugene City Club, Rosenblum said she supported the state’s current medical marijuana law as one that “provides vulnerable citizens with the medicine they needed to cope with their diagnoses.”
On the other hand, Holton said the law is actually “a train wreck, putting marijuana in the hands of people, kids, who are not using it for pain management purposes. Of 50,000 card holders, 30,000 got them from 10 clinics. We’ve got a broken system.”
Just last summer, Holton issued a letter to Oregon medical marijuana collectives, co-signed by 34 district attorneys, the head of the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association and the head of the Oregon Chiefs of Police. The letter stated, “The sale of marijuana for any purpose — including as medicine — violates both federal and Oregon law and will not be tolerated.”
