Is weed legal in Oregon?

Recreational status

Recreational cannabis is legal in Oregon. (ORS 475C.097 Retail license; sale of medical grade items; fees; rules)

ORS 475C.257 Prohibition against sale of certain marijuana items; rules(1)(a) defines 'consumer' as 'a person who purchases, acquires, owns, holds or uses marijuana items other than for the purpose of resale,' confirming retail sale reaches the general public rather than only cardholders. ORS 475C.337 Unlawful possession by person 21 years of age or older, the register's other source for this question, confirms the same framework from the possession side: it is unlawful for a person 21 or older to possess only in excess of stated amounts, which by negative implication makes possessing up to those amounts lawful (recorded under possession_limit).

Oregon's word for you is consumer, defined as a person who buys, holds or uses marijuana items for something other than resale. The door asks your age and not your reason for being there, though reselling what you bought puts you outside that definition.

Medical status

A full medical cannabis program runs in Oregon, serving patients the program registers. (ORS 475C.783 Registry identification cardholders; eligibility; fees; rules)

ORS 475C.097 Retail license; sale of medical grade items; fees; rules(3)(e), the register's other source for this question, confirms the program is not limited to a low-THC product: it directs the commission to let a registered marijuana retailer sell 'medical grade cannabinoid products, cannabinoid concentrates and cannabinoid extracts at retail in the same manner' that a general-use retailer sells the same categories -- full-spectrum product forms, not a single low-THC preparation. Neither registered source states the list of conditions behind the term 'debilitating medical condition' used as the qualifying standard in section 783(2).

The registry identification card opens no separate shop, because a registered retailer sells medical grade product across the same counter that serves everyone else. Its value lies in the size of a lawful purchase and in the grow site an adult applicant may ask to designate, neither of which comes with turning 21.

Hemp-derived products

Oregon permits the sale of hemp-derived products and limits which ones. (ORS 475C.257 Prohibition against sale of certain marijuana items; rules)

Section 257(1) also lets the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission set its own, potentially lower, 'concentration of adult use cannabinoids' by rule as an alternative threshold to the 0.3 percent delta-9-THC figure quoted; whichever is higher governs. Subsection (2) is what makes the classification consequential: 'A person other than a marijuana retailer that holds a license issued under ORS 475C.097 may not sell marijuana items to a consumer' -- so hemp product over the threshold may be sold only through the licensed marijuana retail channel, while compliant hemp product, not being a 'marijuana item' under this definition, falls outside that restriction. ORS 475C.253 Labeling of industrial hemp commodity or product separately requires a hemp commodity or product sold by a licensed marijuana retailer to carry a label clearly stating whether it is derived from hemp or marijuana.

Oregon draws its line by THC concentration: a hemp product above the line counts as a marijuana item and may be sold only by a licensed marijuana retailer. The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission can move that line down by rule, and hemp on a licensed retailer's shelf has to say on the label whether it came from hemp or from marijuana.

Home cultivation

Oregon allows an adult to grow up to 4 plants at home. (ORS 475C.305 Applicability of provisions to homegrown plants, homemade cannabinoid products and concentrates, specified possession and delivery)

The 4-plant figure in section 305(1) is a per-household cap, not a per-person one: it applies to 'the production or storage of homegrown plants ... at a household by one or more persons 21 years of age and older, if the total amount of homegrown plants at the household does not exceed four plants at any time.' ORS 475C.337 Unlawful possession by person 21 years of age or older(1)(a) cross-references this same figure as the ceiling for lawful possession of plants.

The four plants belong to the address, not to a person, so two adults sharing a house have four between them and not eight. Storage works the same way, with the ounces kept at home counted for the household and not for each resident.

Possession and purchase limits

The possession limit, as Oregon states it: It is unlawful for a person 21 or older to knowingly or intentionally possess more than two ounces of usable marijuana in a public place; more than eight ounces of usable marijuana; more than 16 ounces of cannabinoid products in solid form or cannabinoid concentrates; more than 72 ounces of cannabinoid products in liquid form; more than one ounce of cannabinoid extracts; a cannabinoid extract not purchased from a licensed marijuana retailer, regardless of amount; or plants in excess of the 4-plant household limit. (ORS 475C.337 Unlawful possession by person 21 years of age or older)

This is section 337(1)(a)-(g). ORS 475C.305 Applicability of provisions to homegrown plants, homemade cannabinoid products and concentrates, specified possession and delivery, the register's other source for this question, states nearly identical figures (8 ounces of usable marijuana, 16 ounces of cannabinoid products in solid form, 72 ounces in liquid form, 1 ounce of cannabinoid extracts, and the 4-plant cap) as what a household of one or more persons 21 or older may possess or store without certain licensing provisions applying -- the same ceiling described from the regulatory-exemption side rather than the criminal side. Section 305 also exempts small noncommercial person-to-person deliveries (for example, up to one ounce of usable marijuana) between adults, which is a gifting allowance rather than a possession or purchase limit.

On buying, Oregon states: A retailer may not knowingly sell more than the following amounts to an individual at any one time or within one day: two ounces of usable marijuana; 16 ounces of a cannabinoid product in solid form; 72 fluid ounces of a cannabinoid product in liquid form; 10 grams of cannabinoid extracts or concentrates; 10 grams of cannabinoid products intended for inhalation; four immature marijuana plants; and 10 marijuana seeds. (OAR 845-025-2800. Retailer Privileges; Prohibitions)

This is rule 845-025-2800(4)(a). The same subsection (b) sets a separate, larger figure for a registry identification cardholder or designated primary caregiver: a retailer may not knowingly provide more than eight ounces of usable marijuana at one time or within one day per patient, or more than 32 ounces in one calendar month per patient. ORS 475C.337 Unlawful possession by person 21 years of age or older, the register's other listed source, sets possession totals (recorded under possession_limit) rather than a per-transaction or per-day purchase amount; its figures do not all match this rule's sale limits (for example, 337 permits possessing up to one ounce of extract, while this rule caps a single day's retailer sale of extract at 10 grams), which is expected since the two measure different things. This source could not be read by `fetch.py` (HTTP 200 with an empty body) and was instead read through a rendering fetch; the heading and section number returned matched this source's title and rule number before anything was quoted from it.

The extract rule is the one that trips people: a cannabinoid extract you did not buy from a licensed retailer is unlawful at any amount, so where it came from settles the question before the weight does. Oregon writes the rest as prohibitions above a figure, and the ceiling for what you carry in public is a different number from the ceiling for what you hold in total.

Minimum age

You must be 21 or over to buy without a medical card. (ORS 475C.109 Requirement to verify person's age; rules)

Section 109 authorizes the commission to require a retailer to use age-verification equipment 'for the purpose of ensuring that the marijuana retailer does not sell marijuana items to a person under 21 years of age,' which states the age without itself being the section that first sets it. ORS 475C.337 Unlawful possession by person 21 years of age or older and ORS 475C.097 Retail license; sale of medical grade items; fees; rules(2)(b) (the latter about a retail licensee's own minimum age) are consistent with 21 throughout.

Oregon sets no minimum age for a patient. (ORS 475C.783 Registry identification cardholders; eligibility; fees; rules)

Section 783(2) issues a registry identification card to 'an applicant who is 18 years of age or older,' but section 783(3)(a) issues the same card to 'an applicant who is under 18 years of age' if the custodial parent or legal guardian responsible for the applicant's health care decisions signs a statement consenting to the medical use of marijuana by the applicant, agreeing to serve as the applicant's designated primary caregiver, and agreeing to control the acquisition, dosage, and frequency of that use. No age floor is stated for the under-18 applicant; only that a qualifying provider's diagnosis and a parent or guardian's consent stand behind the card, which is why this is recorded as no_minimum rather than 18. The one restriction unique to a minor cardholder is procedural, not an age floor: section 783(3)(b) bars an applicant under 18 from applying to designate a marijuana grow site.

A patient under 18 reaches the registry only through a parent or guardian who consents in writing, agrees to act as the primary caregiver, and controls the dosage and the frequency of use. The statute fixes no youngest age for that patient, and the caregiver is the one who acquires the cannabis, so the absent floor never puts a child at a counter.

Where you can buy

You can buy lawfully from a licensed recreational dispensary, a licensed medical dispensary, a licensed delivery service and a retailer of hemp-derived or CBD products. (ORS 475C.097 Retail license; sale of medical grade items; fees; rules)

The quoted passage is section 097(3)(e); the same licensed 'marijuana retailer' sells to the general public and, once registered under ORS 475C.149, sells medical grade product to cardholders, so both channels are recorded on this one source rather than on two separate ones. ORS 475C.117 Delivery of marijuana items to consumer; requirements; limitations; rules separately authorizes that retailer to deliver marijuana items to a consumer's 'bona fide order,' recorded as licensed-delivery. ORS 475C.257 Prohibition against sale of certain marijuana items; rules(1)(b), the register's third listed source for this question, defines 'marijuana item' to include only industrial hemp product that exceeds a stated THC concentration, and its subsection (2) restricts sale of a 'marijuana item' to a licensed marijuana retailer; a hemp product that does not exceed that concentration is accordingly not reached by that restriction, which is recorded here as the hemp-cbd-retailer channel.

One license covers both counters, so a shop on the store list is the same shop a cardholder uses once it registers for medical grade product. Delivery comes from that retailer against an order you place with it, and not from a courier the state licenses on its own.

The Oregon store list names every licensed location this site holds a record for.

Federal law applies here too, and it is not the same. Read what federal law says about weed.