SALEM — State lawmakers are struggling to reach consensus on new restrictions to impose on Oregon’s booming and largely unregulated medical marijuana program.

Many legislators view tougher limits on medical pot as key to successfully implementing the legal recreational marijuana system that voters approved in November. Currently, they say, substantial amounts of marijuana, ostensibly grown in Oregon for the medical program, are in fact sold into the black market, mainly in other states.

“What we’re dealing with here is an entrenched (medical marijuana) program with a lot of problems and a lot of people making a lot of money off of it,” said Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland. “That makes it inherently hard to deal with.”

To combat the problem, lawmakers are proposing restrictions that include new limits on the total number of plants allowed per medical marijuana grow site; a mandatory tracking system for most of that marijuana; allowing state health officials to inspect certain grow sites for compliance; and restricting marijuana growing, processing and selling to people who have lived in Oregon for at least two years. (Read more at the Eugene Register-Guard]