Search Cannabis
Learn all about legal cannabis in Portland: where you can and can't smoke weed, cannabis tours and more.
With its sprawling parks, abundant food cart pods and thriving maker culture, Portland is a playground for creative exploration. This creativity also flows through the city’s legal recreational cannabis scene, especially when it comes to cannabis edibles.
Cannabis in Portland: What Visitors Should Know
Recreational cannabis use and possession by people 21 and older was legalized in the state of Oregon in July 2015. However, while Measure 91 made having and consuming cannabis legal in Oregon, the growth, sales and consumption of the product remain federal offenses.
Credit: Catalina Gaitán
Here’s an overview of the current visitor dos and don’ts related to cannabis in Oregon.
Visitors Cannot:
- Smoke cannabis or consume cannabis edibles in a public place or in public view. (This includes the Oregon Convention Center, restaurants, bars, parks, sidewalks, etc.). Use in public is a class B felony and can result in a fine of up to $1,000.
- Smoke cannabis in most hotel rooms. (Check with individual hotels for their policies.)
- Drive or bike under the influence of cannabis.
- Transport cannabis across state lines or on waterways.
- Possess, own or smoke cannabis — nor own or operate a cannabis business — in select cities and counties in Oregon. Please refer to the local city or county for the local ordinances.
Visitors Can:
- Buy cannabis. Limited amounts of recreational cannabis are available for purchase at state-licensed recreational marijuana retailers.
- Consume cannabis on private property and away from public view.
- Possess up to an ounce of cannabis on their person.
- Share, give away and receive cannabis (as long as all parties are over 21) within the state of Oregon.
Latest Updates
Check these links for the most current and complete information about cannabis laws in the city of Portland and the state of Oregon:
- What’s legal in Oregon
- Recreational marijuana on Oregon.gov
- City of Portland: Recreational Marijuana FAQ
- City of Portland: Cannabis Program
- Portland International Airport: Traveling with marijuana
Find Cannabis in Portland
Locally-Made Cannabis Edibles
Laurie Wolf, a Portland-based leader in the edible community and author of several cannabis cookbooks (including Marijuana Edibles and Cooking with Cannabis), says that cannabis consumers have become more sophisticated since recreational use of the drug was legalized in Oregon in 2015. In response, the makers of edibles — many of them women — have elevated their bite-sized offerings with ingredients like fair-trade cacao beans and organic fruit.
“Edibles are becoming better and more interesting,” says Wolf, who co-owns and operates the edibles brand Laurie + MaryJane. “People are scrutinizing the product[s] and there’s more interest in what’s in them.”
Credit: Ashley Anderson
For a positive outcome, follow Wolf’s advice: “Start low [in terms of milligrams of THC]. Talk to the budtenders about what experience you’re looking for, and don’t hesitate to ask questions.” After consuming, you might also take her suggestion for an inspiring local activity: “Go hang out at the Portland Japanese Garden. It’s beautiful.”
If you’ve ever wanted to explore the therapeutic benefits of cannabis without the high associated with THC, then you might want to try CBD. Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis and has been widely applauded for its bevy of health benefits. With wide-ranging benefits, no recorded side effects and ample legal availability, it’s no wonder people have fallen in love with CBD. Whether you want to eat it, drink it or get it massaged into your skin, Portland makes it easy to try CBD.
Chocolates by Grön
If you’re a chocolate lover, your favorite treat can also be your favorite way to get high, thanks to Grön Chocolates. Made with hand-harvested cacao beans and infused with Clean Green-certified cannabis, this line of gourmet chocolates is the brainchild of architect-turned-entrepreneur Christine Smith.
The chocolates come in bites, bars and bits, offering rich flavor options like dark chocolate espresso, milk chocolate-peanut butter-pretzel and white chocolate-covered blueberries. Grön’s decadent vegan dark chocolate is infused with 50 mg of CBD per bar (5 mg per serving) and dusted with Jacobsen’s sea salt. Grön (pronounced “grewn”) makers describe them as a melt-in-your-mouth hug. (There’s only one way to find out what that means: Try them.)
Dose: Varies by product; ranges from 0.5 mg THC to 70 mg THC per serving. CBD-infused and CBD/THC blended options also available.
Find it:
Cheese Crisp Crackers by Laurie + Maryjane
Laurie + MaryJane, the baked-edibles brand by Laurie Wolf and her daughter-in-law Mary, offers a warning with its cannabis-infused cheese crisp crackers: It may be difficult to eat only one. Plan accordingly. In other words, keep something crunchy and cannabis-free at the ready so you don’t inhale the whole package of 17 crackers and have trouble leaving the couch (or hotel room). With a biscuit-like texture and a touch of spice, these orange-hued crackers are a must-try for savory edible enthusiasts.
In addition to their crave-worthy crisps, Laurie + MaryJane also offers fudgy brownie bites, almond cake bites and brownie truffle bites with chocolate buttercream and sprinkles.
Dose: 3–3.5 mg THC per cracker (50 mg in package)
Find it:
Coconut Bites by SDK Snacks
Raw, vegan and gluten-free aren’t the typical elements of an edible, but Tokeless B. Coconut bites by SDK Snacks offer a way to partake that’s both delicious and healthy. Created by Jill Trinchero, who started the edibles brand as a reminder to “relax, enjoy and not take life so seriously,” these handmade bites blend of organic fruit, almonds and coconut. (If wholesome coconut bites aren’t your thing, SDK also offers chocolate chip cannabis cookies and “C’est la herb” crackers.)
Dose: 5 mg THC per bite.
Find it:
Hard Candy Gems by Drip Sweets
Andi Bixel, co-creator of Drip Sweets, thinks it’s good to feel good. So, along with her mother Kathy, she makes uplifting Luxury Gems Candy — cannabis-infused hard candies in the shape of crystals. The vegan edibles come in two flavors: citrusy Citrine Quartz, made with a blend of natural grapefruit and lime essential oils, and White Mint Illuminite, made with peppermint essential oil and natural vanilla.
Dose: 5 mg THC per candy (50 mg per pack). CBD-inflused available.
Find it:
Got the Munchies?
Expand your tastebuds with Portland's food scene.
Portland Snacks and Where to Find Them
From small cheese plates to conveyer-belt sushi to spring rolls, find your next favorite craving at these Portland, Oregon snack spots.
Comfort Food Favorites in Portland
Get your comfort food fix — whether you’re hankering for mac and cheese, fries topped with gravy or a steaming bowl of pho, these local dishes don’t disappoint.
Popular Food Carts
Portland has hundreds of food carts serving countless cuisines — eat your way through breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert at some of Portland’s award-winning, popular food carts.
CBD Treats
Often known as “kissing cousins,” cannabis and hops are the most closely genetically related plants within the family Cannabaceae. They produce similar flavors and aromatic compounds called “terpenes,” which help give certain beers their floral or citrusy finish. (They’re also why a particularly pungent IPA might remind you of your last ounce of OG Kush.) To demonstrate the similarities between the two plants, local beverage and snack purveyors have begun crafting CBD-infused products that can be found throughout the city.
For a one-stop shop catering to all your CBD needs, check out CBD-Lish in South Portland. This Portland-based shop offers a jaw-dropping selection of CBD concentrates, edibles and body care products.
If you’re looking for full-body nourishment with a side of CBD, head to Harlow, a hip, healthy eatery in Southeast Portland, for just $3 the folks at Harlow will add a 33 mg shot of organic Peak Extracts to any of their smoothies, juices or elixirs. Since CBD has confirmed anti-inflammation and antioxidant properties, you can really double down on the benefits of the menu’s many superfood-filled beverages. Sore from a workout? Try the Gilt smoothie with CBD; it’s full of other anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric and ginger. Feeling down? Reach for a CBD-infused Superberry smoothie, chock-full of other mood-elevating antioxidants, like blueberries.
Credit: Ashley Anderson
Find CBD-infused bath products from local brand Make & Mary. “At the root of it is self-care as a creative — body, mind and soul,” explains founder Yvonne Perez Emerson.
Cannabis Tours
The Potlandia Experience is a cannabis-focused tour of Portland in a tricked-out, consumption-friendly bus. Stops include dispensaries, food carts and some of the city’s top attractions.
Tours run Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons; the price is $79 per person. You can also book a private rental for $175 per hour (4-hour minimum, including a driver).
Mentioned Elsewhere Online
Tokeativity
Portland Monthly
Green Muse: The World’s First Historical Hip-Hop Dispensary
When Karanja Crews was a kid hunting down an autograph from legendary ‘90s hip-hop duo X-Clan at a Portland record shop, he never would have pictured himself owning a store just up the block. Now, Crews and his business partner, fellow Northeast Portland native Nicole Kennedy, are living out that very dream and paying homage to the era and artform they love so dearly, in the form of their new hip hop-themed cannabis dispensary, Green Muse, (formerly known as Green Hop).
The unmissable bright green-and-yellow-trimmed Victorian home-turned-weed shop just off Northeast Killingsworth Street is the place where their dream has taken root.
Credit: Ashley Anderson
“Buying Back the Block” in Northeast Portland
“One Stop Records was one of the only record shops in Portland that was Black-owned that artists were actually showing up to,” Crews says, recalling a time before social-media marketing, when face-to-face relationships were crucial for artists trying to get their music heard.
“I remember standing in that line [and getting] my little CD signed by X-Clan. At the time, I didn’t even know what the ankh [they were wearing] meant; I was a kid. But it was hella Black and that was during a time when Blackness and the level of consciousness was at an all-time high,” Crew says.
Now a seasoned teacher and entrepreneur, when Crews landed the opportunity to set up his new business in Northeast Portland’s King neighborhood — a historically Black area named after Martin Luther King Jr. — he was immediately struck with a wave of nostalgia.
“It was like — oh wow, I can actually come back to the neighborhood where I used to ride my little dirt bike … and had my first fistfights,” he says. “I get to come back to the neighborhood I was systematically displaced out of.”
Crews and Kennedy see their re-entry to the historic Albina district as more than symbolic, but as part of a movement in hip-hop to “buy back the block.” Multi-platinum stars like Rick Ross and Nipsey Hussle are helping lead this new charge to re-invest in neighborhoods by purchasing real estate, opening new business endeavors and starting STEM centers in their old stomping grounds.
“It’s to show the young people we’re coming back,” Crews says of the movement. “We’re here to re-invest back into the community we were taken out of.”
Legal Cannabis Career Training
Not taking the role of the world’s “first historical hip-hop dispensary” lightly, Green Muse is about much more than music (though there is certainly plenty of that). Golden-era classics from the likes of DJ Kool Herc and Wu Tang Clan play back-to-back with newer staples like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole.
Credit: Ashley Anderson
Crews’ background as an educator is especially evident in Green Muse’s workforce development academy, developed in partnership with the Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center. The program’s goal is to help primarily Black youth (aged 21–24) break into the legal cannabis industry. It’s a worthy goal; currently, only 1–4% of cannabis dispensaries are owned by Black entrepreneurs — a statistic made more concerning, Kennedy says, by the fact that Black individuals account for about 40% of cannabis-related incarcerations.
“The academy is a way for us to get more people of color in this industry,” she explains. “This industry is highly network-based and highly white-washed.” The 10-week program is essentially a “101” of the legal cannabis industry. Participants learn how to get licensed, discover opportunities to specialize in the industry and get the must-knows of breaking into the “wild west” of legalized recreational cannabis.
After completing the first 10 weeks, pupils get an apprenticeship that covers growing, processing and developing their own edibles and working in a lab. “If you’re just entry-level and have never budtended, it’s really hard for a person of color to get a job in a dispensary or grow site,” says Kennedy. “You can put this on your resume and get into this industry.”
Building Community at Green Muse
The duo’s work to bridge historic gaps was cemented when Mayor Ted Wheeler and Senator Earl Blumenauer helped cut the ribbon at Green Muse’s June 2018 grand opening ceremony. This move follows a growing push for hip-hop in all its forms to be recognized as a viable business vehicle in Portland, especially after a 2015 report determined the city needed to improve its relationship with the hip-hop community after decades of tension. Crews and Kennedy say it was important for elected officials to see their community in order to cultivate long term relationships.
Credit: Ashley Anderson
In another nod to the now-defunct One Stop records, Green Muse carries albums by both local and national acts. A love of local hip-hop is evident in Green Muse’s cannabis products, as well; in addition to carrying locally inspired strains like Killingsworth and Albina OG, Green Muse plans to name certain strains after its favorite Rose City wordsmiths.
Ultimately, Green Muse, if you ask Kennedy and Crews, is about much-needed representation. “We’re just repping — repping us, and being unapologetic about it,” says Crews.
Was this page helpful?