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2 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: Increasingly, cops must be mental health workers ... Guest Opinion: State should provide Outdoor School for all ... Crews continue to make progress on Buckskin fire ... Our View: Increasingly, cops must be mental health workers ... Guest Opinion: State should provide Outdoor School for all ... Crews continue to make progress on Buckskin fire ... OUR VIEW Our View: Take it easy on marijuana restrictions Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jun. 21, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Jun. 21, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Not sure what to expect when recreational marijuana becomes legal July 1? You're not alone. A four-day series of stories starting in today's paper is an attempt to clear some of the haze from the subject. We would add this piece of advice to those who are apprehensive: Relax. Take a few deep breaths — laced with pot smoke or not. It's your choice as of July 1. It's a free country, after all, one that is about to get a little more free in that respect. One important thing to keep in mind is that marijuana becomes legal for adults to possess and use on July 1, but only in private. If you see people strolling down the street puffing a joint, they will be breaking the law and risking a citation. So there won't likely be much visible evidence that the law has changed.  Retail sales won't begin until at least the fall, and then only if lawmakers decide to let medical dispensaries sell recreational marijuana as well. If they don't, retail outlets probably won't appear until fall of 2016. The important thing to remember about legal marijuana is that it's not that big a change from the way things already are. Medical marijuana has been legal in Oregon for years, and the pervasive presence of high-quality cannabis in excess of the amount needed by patients is one of the issues lawmakers are still wrestling with as they try to create a functioning retail market for what previously was a black-market commodity. Local governments, meanwhile, are wrestling with their own issues: whether to allow medical marijuana dispensaries, whether to ban retail sales of recreational marijuana and whether to restrict outdoor growing for personal use, which is specifically permitted under Ballot Measure 91. That last question has the Medford City Council poised to ban all backyard pot gardens without waiting to see if they cause a problem. Councilors should take a few of those aforementioned deep breaths first. Some medical marijuana growers with dozens of plants in residential back yards have drawn complaints from neighbors about the strong odor the plants give off at harvest time. Some medical growers can grow for multiple patients, and the odor can be pungent. But recreational growing is limited to four plants per household. That's unlikely to even be noticeable to neighbors. Do the Medford councilors know differently, or are they about to cast their votes based on a supposition? If larger-scale medical gardens are causing a problem, by all means restrict them in residential neighborhoods. The same goes for growing commercial quantities of recreational marijuana. That's no more appropriate in a city neighborhood than raising pigs or running cattle in your backyard. Medford councilors should follow the example set by their colleagues in Jacksonville. Presented with a proposed ordinance, the Jacksonville council chose to take no action, relying on existing nuisance ordinances for the time being. "I think we should just wait and see what happens and respond accordingly," Councilor Ken Gregg said. Rather than rushing to produce a solution in search of a problem, Medford councilors should do the same.          MailTribune.com Writer Posted Jun. 21, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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