Legal Pot Debuts On Display at Oregon State Fair

Oregon made history Friday by including live cannabis plants on display in its State Fair for the first time. The exhibit runs through September 5 in Salem, Oregon. Two years ago, Oregon voters legalized recreational cannabis, and since then it’s become a promising agricultural cash crop. State fairs are where you’d expect to find the largest giant pumpkins and watermelons in the state, so why not cannabis?

The display features nine living plants in a translucent tent. The plants on display had not yet entered the flowering period, therefore, there was no buds to pick at the exhibit. The display is only open to those over 21 with a photo ID.

The exhibit was sponsored by the Oregon Business Council. The council rented the space at the state fair exhibit hall and selected the plants to display. The display is intended as a learning tool. “The Oregon Legislature increasingly regards cannabis as a commodity agricultural product,” Dan Cox with the state fair told the Columbia Basin News.

Cannabis is increasingly becoming a more permanent fixture in Oregon’s agricultural market. Oregon cannabis businesses made $25.5 million in taxes since January this year. The tax revenue easily surpassed what the Oregon State Liquor Commission predicted for Oregon sales. In Oregon, the state liquor commission is preparing to license recreational cannabis and thereby regulate cannabis like alcohol. Earlier this year, Oregon voters allowed the sale of edibles at recreational stores.

Shifting views on cannabis in states like Oregon have made displays like this possible.

Currently, transporting cannabis plants while in the flowering period is illegal in Oregon. Donald Morse, director of the Oregon Cannabis Business Council, told the Associated Press he hopes to get flowering plants into the Oregon State Fair by next year.