Oregon lawmakers are taking over the state’s illegal pot operations

Two proposals in the Oregon Legislature would target the illegal cannabis operations worrying law enforcement and local governments in the southern part of the state.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives recently passed legislation that, according to Oregon’s Capital Press, “would increase scrutiny of legal cannabis licenses and water shipments.”

Oregon voters passed a measure legalizing adult recreational cannabis use in 2014, but underground operations continued, reaching what some officials called a crisis.

A bill passed unanimously by the state house on Monday would establish new “record retention requirements.” [that] would be imposed on water sellers and shippers,” the report said.

The law, HB 4061, would “require that records of water sales and deliveries be available on request, which would make it easier for law enforcement to investigate suspicious activity.

The other bill, SB 1564, passed the state Senate easily in a floor vote last week. It would allow counties across Oregon to suspend hemp licensing licenses.

Originally, the bill would have imposed “a two-year moratorium on new hemp licenses statewide and allowed the Oregon Department of Agriculture to restrict licenses based on crop supply and demand,” according to Capital Press, but the legislation was adjusted to give counties discretion admit.

That’s because the illicit cannabis crisis is largely centered in southern Oregon’s Jackson and Josephine counties.

Local law enforcement and county governments have been overwhelmed by the number of illegal cannabis operations recently, many of which are disguised as hemp farms.

In October, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners there declared a state of emergency and requested additional resources from the state to address the problem, including deploying National Guard troops.

“Since recreational marijuana was legalized by Oregon voters in the November 2014 general election, the illegal and unlawful production of marijuana in our county has overwhelmed the ability of our county and state regulators to enforce relevant laws in our community,” Jackson County Commissioner Rick Dyer said at the time.

A month later, Oregon State Police seized nearly 500,000 pounds of cannabis in a two-day raid on an illegal operation in Jackson County.

State police said more than “100 people were initially arrested, identified, questioned and released, while several of the people were migrant workers living on-site in substandard living conditions with no running water.”

A similar discovery was made in October in nearby Klamath County, which borders Jackson County to the east.

The operation was found to be located there in a 27,000-square-foot shed that, according to local reports, was “filled with marijuana in various stages of processing: drying in huge skeins that stretched from roof to floor, buds pruned and grown to 40 pounds.” stuffed bags, hundreds of these bags stacked against a wall, and years of discarded marijuana waste in heaps ready for disposal.”

Oregon state and county officials have linked the illicit cannabis deals to the Mexican cartel.

Dyer said in November arrests had exposed human trafficking, forced labor and other ugly working conditions that make the illegal operations as much a humanitarian as a drug problem.

“This is cartel activity,” Dyer said at the time. “We see a human rights crisis with these crops.”

“It’s harder to ignore when it’s a regional emergency declaration,” he added. “And the more we present a united front, the harder it becomes to ignore. It’s a regional problem and it could be a regional solution.”