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This November's Initiative 28 Measure 74 will seek to set up medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon. One of its provisions—and a foil to those who say that the dispensary business will attract profiteers—calls for "a program to assist low-income and needy... cardholders in obtaining medical marijuana."

A program like that already exists in Washington, DC, according to this AP story. Legislators in the capital are trying to figure out how to give a discount to people who need it, though medical marijuana won't be for sale in DC until next year.

Who will get the reduced-price marijuana and how much it will cost, however, is still being worked out.

"Obviously because there's no roadmap on how to do this, it may require some tweaking over time," said David Catania, a D.C., councilman and the chairman of the city health committee that drafted the law. "We may, in fact, set an example for other states."

The article notes that an ounce of pot in a dispensary will cost $350—much higher than the price the article quotes for an ounce on the illegal market, at $100-$140. A paragraph later, it quotes NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre saying that illegal pot costs $200 to $500 an ounce. Hey, at least the program should save poor people from the apparently confusing street market.