Clatsop County might ask voters in November to approve a 3 percent local tax on recreational marijuana sales.

Inside the earth-toned, pungent confines of Sweet Relief Natural Medicine on Commercial Street, a brisk business is going quite smoothly, according to owners Gary Reynolds and Oscar Nelson.

The two opened Sweet Relief, Clatsop County’s first licensed medical marijuana dispensary, four months ago between a nail salon and a mortgage center on Commercial Street in downtown Astoria. They’ve recently been joined by the Farmacy in Uppertown, an eclectic partnership of locals and Seattlites that opened less than two weeks ago along Marine Drive.

The two dispensaries and Astoria represent the start of a new medical marijuana industry serving nearly 600 Oregon Medical Marijuana Program cardholders in Clatsop County and visitors from afar. All other cities in the county have enacted moratoriums on dispensaries. Warrenton’s, Seaside’s and Gearhart’s last until May 1, while Cannon Beach’s expires Nov. 1.

“We’re really seeing how many people needed this,” said Reynolds, a construction contractor who turned to medical marijuana to help with pain. Sweet Relief, he added, has about 620 unique customers — a term often interchangeable with patients — who’ve been using the dispensary since it opened May 5. The traffic to the store has worked out to about 34 people per day, consistently, over the last several months, said Nelson, a former financial planner and also owner of Astoria Indoor Garden Supply.

From the outside at 1444 Commercial St., dimly tinted windows bounce reflections back at passersby on the sidewalk. A white marijuana leaf encapsulates a green cross, circled by Sweet Relief’s name. Past a well-appointed waiting area and through a card-locked door is the main showroom — a large corridor that on one side is lined with pipes, other paraphernalia and some of the more than 30 strains of medical marijuana Sweet Relief advertises. On the other side of the showroom are edibles like hash oils, butters, candies, cakes and concentrates.

The Farmacy

“It’s more about medicating,” said Dawn Greenfield, playing down the smoking aspect in a world of edibles, tinctures and other THC products. She co-owns Farmacy on Marine Drive with husband Michael Greenfield, father Rick Butts and new partners Nick Palazzo and Omar Guerrero.

The Farmacy, located in a yellow building between a vacant commercial storefront and another salon, has all manner edibles and copious strains of marijuana in a locked medicine room in back. It’s gone so far as to have Dr. Christian Lé, an internal medicine doctor, pediatrician and expert on cannabis, make visits to the store to help counsel people on what strain best suits their needs.

“We always wanted to have an investment in this type of business,” said Guerrero, who with Palazzo moved from New York City to Seattle to try his hand in the recreational marijuana industry there. When the two didn’t get selected in the state’s lottery, they moved to Oregon, buying out Ian Gonzalez, Dawn Greenfield’s son, to join the Farmacy.

The Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the dispensary program, inspects new dispensaries within six months of their opening and once a year thereafter. It stopped into Sweet Relief two weeks ago, and the owners of The Farmacy are awaiting their visit.

“Overall, there have been 70 inspections, and only three have resulted in suspensions or revocations,” said Karynn Fish, a spokeswoman for the OHA.

The inspectors from the OHA look for deficiencies and give dispensaries 10 days to fix the problems. So far, they’ve visited 70 out of the 183 dispensaries in the state.

Both locations have had to install copious security features, including tinted windows, cameras with 30 days’ worth of recorded footage to reference, motion sensors and silent alarms and lockable doors at every point in their buildings. They’ve posted signs delineating where only those with medical marijuana cards can go.

Employees check every buyer for a medical card. There’s generally no smoking on premises, although Reynolds said an employee with a medical card can try out a product in a separate, secured room. Edibles must be sold in nondescript, child-proof packaging and made with THC processed in Oregon.

Growers bring their product to the dispensary, which then tags and bags it before locking it in a safe and taking a sample to Portland for testing as required by the OHA.

Dispensaries had to be licensed as of March 3, going through a months-long licensing process before reopening. The state worked with the Oregon Department of Justice to shut down nine operations that didn’t have licenses, including Nature’s Choice run by Nick Clark in Astoria’s Uniontown neighborhood.

Fish said Clark was operating without a license after his original application as found incomplete. He faced $500-a-day fines if he did not stop. Clark now has an application in for a dispensary.

The county has two approved applications, including Sweet Relief and the Farmacy. There are two more new applications pending. Highway 420 in Seaside is staking its claim at 1803 S. Roosevelt Drive before the city’s moratorium expires. Three others have been rejected. Information about the applicants for a dispensary license is kept confidential until it’s approved and the business joins an online directory and information center at http://tinyurl.com/nfjll25

Sweet Relief is in the planning stages of opening a location in Scappoose, as its business is meeting sales goals in Astoria and taking off faster than expected. Dawn Greenfield said the partners at the Farmacy already have ideas about adding locations in Warrenton and Seaside.

Looking forward to the eventuality that marijuana becomes legal in Oregon as it has in Washington and Colorado, Nelson said marijuana has the potential to add jobs both in retail and growing. “This is going to be the next wine industry.”

‘We’re really seeing how many people needed this.’

— Gary Reynolds

co-owner, Sweet Relief