Medford, Ore.– The City Council voted five to two yes on the taxing recreational marijuana if measure 91 passes next month.
That means in order for it to become official they’ll have to meet for a second reading before the November 4th election.
Medford councilors decided producers, processors, and wholesalers would be taxed 8%and retailers would be taxed 6%. But council members said Thursday night’s decision is the first step in a long road ahead.
“Idon’t have a lot of confidence that the legislature will correct tings. They created the mess with medical marijuana in the first place. So whatever tools that we can give our local departments that are going to regulate this, the better,” said Council Member Chris Corcoran.
Right now the City of Medford has a permanent ban on medical marijuana. Councilors and other city leaders in the past have said they plan to keep that ban, even if 91 passes. So the tax issue could be a non-issue.
But the way the measure is written, in order to tax it, every local government has to act prior to the measure passing.
Councilors also talked about taxing medical marijuana but they did not make a decision on that.
The next reading on the recreational tax will be October 30th.
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