Many Oregon localities may opt back into adult-use cannabis

With 54 towns and counties asking voters whether they want to opt back into the recreational cannabis market after having banned it, the Oregon adult-use marijuana market could get a lot bigger after Election Day.

That’s how many local governments in Oregon are rethinking their original decisions to ban recreational marijuana after the passage of Measure 91 in 2014, the Associated Press reported. The initiative allowed local governments to prohibit adult-use cannabis businesses if a majority of local voters opposed the change, and plenty did so.

But with the cannabis trade booming, some local officials have been thinking twice and are eyeing possible tax revenues from marijuana sales. Oregon’s Marion County, for example, is asking voters whether they want to opt back into the rec market. The county also is asking voters to support a 3% local sales tax on top of the 17% state tax if they say yes to opting in, according to the AP.

Regardless, if that many local governments decide to change their minds, it could create yet another boom in business opportunities for Oregon’s cannabis trade.