Marijuana Prohibition in the State of Oregon began in 1935 with the passage of the Uniform State Narcotic Drug Act. Possession of small amounts of marijuana was decriminalized in Oregon in 1973. In 1998, the state passed the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, allowing residents to obtain a Medical Marijuana Patient card and grow or obtain marijuana for personal use for medical purposes. Under that act, patients are allowed to designate caregivers, which allowed for the growth of the Oregon medical marijuana dispensary program. The passage of Measure 91 in 2014 legalized possession of marijuana for recreational personal use and created a regulatory licensing and enforcement structure for commercial sales of marijuana. This bill also legalized the growing of personal marijuana plants at a household, which was unique among the three states which had legalized marijuana at the time (Oregon, Washington, and Colorado.) In 2015, Oregon State Governor Kate Brown signed an emergency bill allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to sell small amounts of marijuana to recreational customers in order provide a legal source of marijuana for recreational purposes while additional statutes and administrative rules were put into place for the recreational marijuana program. This "Early Retail Sales" bill allowed these sales to continue until December 31, 2016. After that time, medical dispensaries were no longer allowed to sell to recreational customers.