Oregon wants to crack down on illegal cannabis by holding landowners accountable

If Oregon’s cannabis growers don’t literally clean up their actions, landowners will soon pay the price as their migrant workers risk being deported. Oregon is a haven for cannabis growing. According to AP News, a head of the state’s cannabis and alcohol regulator said Southern Oregon is to marijuana what Bordeaux is to wine.

However, some people with less than ideal ethics risk ruining the country for everyone. The state is facing a crisis of illegal farmers offering large sums of money in advance to rent or buy land. However, what seems to give cannabis a bad name is that they only grow it for profit and disregard other factors such as the fate of the land or their workers. Such breeders leave behind a dried up water table, pollution and garbage scattered everywhere. Now the Oregon legislature is trying to pass a new bill to curb such negative impacts by making landowners themselves directly responsible.

If passed, the law would stop the use of groundwater and rivers — and confiscate the documents of migrant workers who tend the facilities, thereby reporting them for deportation, reports AP News. And if the landowner, whether responsible or not, does not pay for the cleanup, the government would be allowed to foreclose on property used for illegal cannabis.

So far, the bill has passed the Senate and House of Representatives, with Speaker Dan Rayfield signing the measure into law on Wednesday despite protests from some Republicans. “This is just an assault on property rights here in the state of Oregon,” GOP Senator Dennis Linthicum said in the Senate.

If all goes as planned, Democratic Governor of Oregon Tina Kotek will sign the bill into law next week. “The governor supports the fight against illegal cannabis operations that are rampant in southern Oregon,” said Elisabeth Shepard, spokeswoman for Kotek.

In this economic climate, it is understandable why some landowners would sell their land to dubious buyers or tenants. AP News describes shoppers presenting backpacks with thousands of dollars in cash and sometimes more than one backpack of bills to choose from. “We pay CASH and offer a quick deal,” read a letter received by a landowner in one of three offers last year.

But not everyone understands the appeal of quick cash. Democratic Senator Jeff Golden said landowners should know something is wrong when they are “approached early in the growing season with requests to lease their property for tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single year.”

According to the Oregon Police Department, part of the problem is that the lush land attracted an influx of foreign criminals from all over the world, from Russia to Mexico, looking to profit from America’s cannabis market. So many hoop houses (cheaply built greenhouses) sprung up that local authorities did not have the manpower to close them all. The farms in question are known to house their workers in appalling conditions with open latrines and often cut their wages.

And according to Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler, no one bothers to clean up the waste, whether it came from an outhouse or a greenhouse, once the growers are done. “Honestly, it’s an eyesore to our community and we have no way of dealing with it,” Sickler said.

While the prospect of the bill unsettles many landowners, others welcome it, the AP reports. At least most landowners knew what they were doing was wrong. I believe this action will help stem the tide,” said Jack Dwyer, a homeowner near Selm, Oregon. In 2021, Dwyer said a large illegal cultivation nearby drained all water from a stream running through his property, causing it to dry up. And Christopher Hall, whose job it is to get the public involved in water management, believes the bill will finally solve the problem. Hall says these cash-bought illegal cultivation farms “not only turn streams into gravel roads, but also result in gross human rights abuses and the dumping of garbage, sewage, chemicals and other waste in ditches, riparian areas and streams.”