Summary: Senate Bill 249 was Printed pursuant to Senate Interim Rule 213.28 by order of the President of the Senate (at the request of Senate Interim Committee on Judiciary for Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association) -- Relating to Marijuana.

Relating to Marijuana; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 161.705, 475.320 and 475.900. ... Relating to Marijuana; creating new provisions; and amending ... of manufacturing certain amounts of Marijuana. Modifies presumptive sentence for certain Marijuana offenses. ...

A BILL FOR AN ACT

Relating to Marijuana; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 161.705, 475.320 and 475.900.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. ORS 161.705 is amended to read:

161.705. Notwithstanding ORS 161.525, the court may enter judgment of conviction for a Class A misdemeanor and make disposition accordingly when:

(1)(a) A person is convicted of any Class C felony;

(b) A person is convicted of { - a - } { + the + } Class B felony { + of unlawful delivery of Marijuana + }pursuant to ORS 475.860 (2);

(c) A person is convicted of the Class B felony of { + unlawful + } possession of Marijuana pursuant to ORS 475.864

(2) { + ;

(d) A person is convicted of the Class A felony of unlawful manufacture of Marijuana pursuant to ORS 475.856 and the quantity involved is no more than that described in ORS 475.320 (1)(a)(A) or (4)(a) + }; or

[snip]

SECTION 2. ORS 475.900 is amended to read:

475.900. (1) A violation of ORS 475.840, 475.846 to 475.894, 475.904 or 475.906 shall be classified as crime category 8 of the sentencing guidelines grid of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission if:

(a) The violation constitutes delivery or manufacture of a controlled substance { + other than Marijuana + } and involves substantial quantities of { - a - } { + the + } controlled substance. For purposes of this paragraph, the following amounts constitute substantial quantities of the following controlled substances:

(A) Five grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of heroin;

(B) Ten grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine;

(C) Ten grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, its salts, isomers or salts of its isomers;

(D) One hundred grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of hashish;

{ - (E) One hundred and fifty grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of Marijuana; - }

[snip]

(b) The violation constitutes possession, delivery or manufacture of a controlled substance { + other than Marijuana + }and the possession, delivery or manufacture is a commercial drug offense.

{ - A - } { + The + } possession, delivery or manufacture { + of a controlled substance other than Marijuana + } is a commercial drug offense for purposes of this subsection if it is accompanied by at least three of the following factors:

(A) The delivery was of heroin, cocaine, hashish, { - Marijuana, - } methamphetamine, lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin or psilocin and was for consideration;

[snip]

(B) The violation constitutes delivery or manufacture of Marijuana and involves substantial quantities of Marijuana. For purposes of this subparagraph, 150 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of Marijuana constitutes substantial quantities of Marijuana.

(C) The violation constitutes possession, delivery or manufacture of Marijuana and the possession, delivery or manufacture is a commercial drug offense. The possession, delivery or manufacture of Marijuana is a commercial drug offense if:

(i) The violation involves the delivery of Marijuana for consideration and is accompanied by at least two of the factors described in subsection (1)(b)(B) to (K) of this section; or

[snip]

The text on this Bill can be found in PDF format at: http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measpdf/sb0200.dir/sb0249.intro.pdf

Status:

01/16 (S) Introduction and first reading. Referred to President's desk.
01/22 (S) Referred to Judiciary.

Testifying

Each speaker called to testify will have two minutes to address the committee. The order of testimony may be managed to ensure that all points of view on these measures are presented.

Staff respectfully requests that you submit 25 collated copies of written materials at the time of your testimony and, if possible, an electronic copy of materials provided to staff 24 hours prior to the meeting. Persons making presentations including the use of video, DVD, PowerPoint or overhead projection equipment are asked to contact committee staff and provide an electronic copy 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Whether you want to testify or not, it would be good to come to Salem for any hearings. It would be especially good to try to schedule a meeting with your Senator -or- Representative before the meeting, possible.

As with coming to court, if you decide to attend hearings, please dress appropriately and be polite and respectful.

click here -

http://www.leg.state.or.us/capinfo/

- for Capitol Info, such as directions, phone numbers and maps.

If you cannot attend, Please write and testify. You can find wording of the measures here: http://www.leg.state.or.us/bills_laws/

you can listen to the hearings online here http://www.leg.state.or.us/listn/

Details:  

> Authorizes court to enter judgment of conviction for Class A misdemeanor when person convicted of manufacturing certain amounts of marijuana.

> Modifies presumptive sentence for certain marijuana offenses.

A copy of the Bill may be found online at:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measpdf/sb0200.dir/sb0249.intro.pdf

. and here .

http://www.leg.state.or.us/09reg/measures/sb0200.dir/sb0249.intro.html

LTL (Letters-To-yer-Legislator, Editor, Org Director, Biz Owner)

you can send identical emails to every oregon senator (which will show as individual emails from you, to that senator) by sending To: orsen@oreg.net

you can send identical emails to every oregon representative (which will show as individual emails from you, to that representative) by sending To: orhouse@oreg.net

NOTEs - MAP's media resource center:


http://www.mapinc.org/resource/

If you go to about the middle of the page you will find the "Style Guide" with links to:

• MAP Letters to the Editor Archive
• Tips for Getting Letters to the Editor Published, by Platinum Letter Writer, Robert Sharpe
• Letters to the Editor & Opinion Pieces, American College of Emergency Physicians
• MAP Three Tips for Letter Writers
• Powerful Paragraphs, ClearWriter's ClearTips
• How to Write Letters to the Editor, Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
• Grammar Bytes!, Grammar Instruction with Attitude
• How to Communicate with Journalists, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
• Letter Writer's Style Guide, by Chris Donald
• Writing Effective Letters to the Editor, 20/20 Vision


respectfully, we suggest two main rules-of-thumb for letter writing to improve the liklihood of being published.

1. Write short declarative sentences as if you were speaking to a child, a small animal or a judge.

2. Limit yourself to 150 words.

Best of luck.

Here is .   Examples -

Will be posted as we learn about them.

Questions?  Comments?   Need some info?   Got some info?   NetWork!   E-Mail us or visit the Bulletin Board for further comments on this Bill -or- to post your own.

Will be posted here.