When Oregon voters in 2014 approved the ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana, they specified that use in public places would remain unlawful.
But as marijuana growing, processing, retailing and consumption have swelled in Oregon, so has the chorus pushing for the right to toke on pipes or joints or inhale from vaporizers in public — whether at cannabis lounges or in city parks.
Some Oregon lawmakers tried to push the public-smoking bubble in the legislative session that just ended. Senate Bill 307 would have allowed licensed marijuana lounges, where smokers and vapers could publicly partake in consuming cannabis. It also would have allowed public marijuana use at temporary events.
But the bill died in committee, despite the backing of famous former Trail Blazer basketball player Cliff Robinson, now a marijuana retailer and advocate, and other notables, such as Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
Read more at The Register-Guard.
