The Rolling Stone Guide to Legal Pot: Oregon
Oregon has some of the cleanest weed in the country, thanks to some very stringent regulations. Photo-illustration by Liz Barclay for RollingStone.com
For only being the third year of legal cannabis sales in Oregon, the industry in the state has certainly established a singular style. When walking into the average dispensary, customers are accustomed to a fully-realized experience, where decor and packaging is expected to be as polished as the diverse selections of organically-grown product, approved under some of the country's strictest regulations.
"Oregon is exceptional," says Ian Shaughnessy, CEO of Rare Industries, a multi-brand oil processor which includes Quill vape pens and OCO vape cartridges, dab syringes and THC/CBD capsules. "We've got the planet's optimal weed-growing ecoregion. Lots of states have good weed – but nothing comes close to the the flower, products, and brands here."
Both an epicenter for pioneering research and cannabis culture beyond retail shops, Oregonians seem determined to help everyone understand this plant and the potential for the legal cannabis industry to be a chance to build an industry the right way – a way that helps more people benefit from the plant's effects, helps new businesses thrive and takes this opportunity to use legal cannabis tax revenue to benefit those that were unjustly affected by the War on Drugs.
Where To Smoke It
At first, the inability to consume cannabis was a crushing blow to potential events that would draw more tourism into the sate. Consumption-friendly outdoor cannabis festivals were banned in the name of the Clean Air Act. Oregon citizens were directed to consume cannabis, of any kind, only within the confines of a private residence. It didn't take long for the community to test the boundaries of that definition.
Lee and Sarah Henderson, the owners of Portland-area HiFi Farms, turned their home into a concert venue. Every few months, the first floor of their historical house is converted to the stage for Live at HiFi. Attendees ages 21 and up can pass a joint on the covered side porch before taking a seat on the hardwood floors of the living room for a classical music showcase or a poetry and spoken word open mic.