Marijuana Emergency – Oregon County declares a state of emergency over illegal pot growing

Jackson County in southwest Oregon has called for help from state officials.

On Wednesday, October 14, 2021, the county sent a memo to the state government saying it could no longer contain the sharp increase in the size and number of illegal cannabis growers in its community.

This district has hit the news multiple times in the past few months for the same reason – the high number of illegal raids on cannabis plots.

County officials seem fed up when they urged Governor Kate Brown and well-meaning lawmakers to send National Guards to the area for security …

Oregon’s legal cannabis industry

Six years ago, Oregon was one of the first states to approve the recreational use of cannabis and its sale. Since then, the industry has flourished because it is accessible to everyone.

Business owners big and small are all involved in the industry, and the licensing process is almost as smooth as getting a liquor business license.

The state’s cannabis control council oversees the industry with easy-to-understand regulations.

Entrepreneurs interested in entering the cannabis industry do not have to take a long time to apply, nor do they have to fight for limited licenses. In short, Oregon, with its business-friendly regulations, can easily claim to have the most accessible cannabis industry.

Even so, it’s pretty disappointing that some have refused to join the legal industry, preferring to continue growing cannabis illegally.

Black market vendors are being encouraged day by day, and despite the myriad of raids that have been carried out to close these stores, they still insist on getting their illegal crops up and running in no time.

Many black market sellers and breeders insist on smuggling the state’s cannabis market. The region in southwest Oregon hardest hit by these black market actors. Jackson County and Josephine Counties are overwhelmed by this illegal cultivation. Their proximity to the emerald triangle is one of the reasons black market growers find it easy to set up their illegal cannabis farms.

A cry for help

It takes a lot for county officials to accept defeat and ask the state government for help. The decision of these commissioners to present a memo asking for assistance in the fight against illegal cannabis companies is commendable, the cannabis industry is still quite delicate and matters like this should be handled with caution.

With the help of the state government, the police and law enforcement officers are adequately supported and relieved to carry out their tasks carefully.

Jackson County is home to a popular town called Medford, and given the county’s illegal cannabis business rate, it can also be said that there are over 1,000 illegal cannabis growing sites.

For a county with fewer than 250,000 inhabitants, this high number of illegal cultivation operations is an immediate threat to the health and safety of its residents. With the help of Governor Kate Brown, Jackson County will move one step closer to eliminating the problem of illegal farming.

In the memo, the county commissioners stated that their law enforcement agencies did not have the resources and time to focus solely on the deteriorating situation of illegal cannabis operations.

The letter asked the governor to hire 36 new employees for the community’s police force. She is also calling for government funding to at least double the current number of law enforcement staff in the county.

An emergency

When Oregon voters decided to endorse the adult use legislation in 2014, no one would have believed that Oregon would be a landing pad for black market actors.

Published reports indicate that at least half of the registered cannabis farms in the state practice illegal techniques. For example, the approved THC limit for all crops grown is 0.3 percent, cannabis regulators have found that less than 50 percent of farmers adhere to this limit.

Bootleg cannabis growers pretend to be legal hemp growers when they first set up a store in the state. The majority of these operations use Counties Josephine and Jackson as a base for their illegal black market activities. They grow marijuana with high levels of THC, harvesting, and sometimes processing the buds, after which they sell in and out of the state. The illegal operations are money robbery programs aimed at generating higher profits while avoiding paying taxes to the state.

Official cannabis regulators routinely dispatch officials to visit registered hemp farms in the state. Since these visits began, around a quarter of registered hemp farmers have denied officials access to their acreage. The state also reported that law enforcement agencies find mostly unlicensed firearms like pistols, shotguns, etc. in most of the raided illegal cannabis farms.

Getting rid of illegal cannabis operations

The illegal cannabis trade is becoming an ongoing problem that seems to recur despite the crackdown by law enforcement agencies in several communities. It is even more prevalent in states that have legalized the medicinal or recreational use of weed.

The workers in these illegal factories have been exposed to some of the worst working conditions despite the high profits made by the owners of these factories.

Tackling this illegal cannabis cultivation across the West will be a major challenge. The first thing everyone involved must do, however, is that they have a united front. These illegal producers are tapping into state resources, stealing water and land while denying legal claimants the much-needed resources. Their activities played a large role in the widespread mega-drought observed in the western states.

Bottom line

Jackson County recorded over 600 Code violations by illegal cannabis farmers in 2021 alone. Looking at the data collected over the years, that number is almost double the number of Code violations reported in 2016.

Jackson County officials declaring a state of emergency over illegal cannabis cultivation was the way to go!

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