Marijuana will be legal in Oregon this week, you just can’t buy it

As legalization takes hold, Oregon has no marijuana retail stores

(AP Images)

Oregonians on Wednesday legally will be permitted to possess and use marijuana in the state — as long last they are 21 or older — joining neighbor Washington in allowing recreational use of pot.

But legalization in Oregon comes with one small hang-up: There is nowhere in the state to buy soon-to-be-legal weed, according to the Statesman Journal.

People in Oregon must receive their marijuana as a gift or buy it off the street, as no licensed purveyor of pot has been established in the state.

Users also could cross the state line into Washington, which has set up stores, but would risk legal trouble since the transport of marijuana across state lines is a federal crime, even though pot is legal in both states.

Oregon voters approved Measure 91, which allows legal consumption of pot, in November 2014 by a 56 per cent majority.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission was given ability to tax, license and regulate marijuana in the state, but is not expected to start accepting applications from growers, processors and retailers until January 2016.

Those approved retailers are slated to begin selling weed in the fall of 2016.

State legislators earlier this month were considering a bill that would allow the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries to to sell small amounts of pot, but that bill has not been approved.