Pubdate: Wed, 04 Feb 2015
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2015 The Oregonian
Contact:  http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author: Noelle Crombie

EASTERN OREGON RESIDENTS DIDN'T VOTE FOR LEGAL MARIJUANA, URGE OLCC 
TO KEEP A TIGHT REIN

PENDLETON - Oregonians settled the question of marijuana's legality 
in a decisive vote last November. Yet the home of the 105-year-old 
Pendleton Round-Up isn't ready to concede.

This eastern Oregon town, where the motto is "Let 'er buck," doesn't 
want to let go of marijuana's prohibition era. And if that seems 
hardheaded, consider the spirit of its fabled rodeo, where crowds of 
up to 20,000 chant the town's hang-tough slogan when a cowboy enters the arena.

"When it comes to a lot of our laws, they are determined by a couple 
of counties and Portland," said Pendleton Mayor Phillip Houk. "We are 
used to that, so what we have to do is buck up and figure out what we 
are going to do."

For Pendleton, it may mean trying to ban marijuana retailers from the city.

The Willamette Valley, Portland especially, may have moved on from 
debates over cannabis. But among many here, marijuana's dark 
reputation as a gateway drug linked to mental illness, family 
dysfunction and addiction remains intact.

As part of its effort to collect input from Oregonians, the Oregon 
Liquor Control Commission on Thursday held the first of 10 statewide 
public forums. The first two were in Baker City and Pendleton, 
drawing more than 200 residents from a sparsely populated swath of 
eastern Oregon.

Police, elected leaders, business owners and parents filled seats at 
the events, some driving more than an hour to talk about what legal 
marijuana means for rural Oregon.

"I am trying to picture what this is going to look like in our town," 
said Lisa Weigum, 30, a John Day councilwoman who made the 80-mile 
trip to attend the Baker City forum.

Speaker after speaker told Rob Patridge, chairman of the liquor 
control commission, to craft rules that will keep marijuana away from 
kids, limit marijuana retailers' ability to advertise and restrict 
where they can operate. Residents pushed the commission to develop a 
robust public education campaign aimed at Oregonians young and old 
about marijuana and its risks. Beverly Beach Speaks at OLCC Listening 
Tour Beverly Beach of LaGrande, Oregon airs talking points on behalf 
of her table at the OLCC Listening Tour meeting in Baker City, Oregon.

Delmer Hanson, mayor of Island City -- population 988 -- in Union 
County, said he's especially worried about the potency of 
marijuana-infused edible products, such as gummy bears and other candies.

"We just have to figure out a way to keep this away from our 
children," Hanson said. "I think we will find that even adults don't 
realize the magnitude of the effect these edibles can have on them."

Karen Howton agreed. "Our youth do not need to see this as a normal 
thing," the 36-year-old mother of two from Island City said at the 
Baker City forum. "I am a parent and I'm scared to death of it."

Tammy Brant spoke about educating adults on the storage of marijuana 
in homes where children also live. She came to Baker city from 
Portland. Her husband wants to open dispensary for recreational 
marijuana in Portland.

Howton echoed the view of many in the room when she urged Patridge to 
think about eastern Oregon when writing the rules. The counties that 
hosted the first two public forums -- Baker and Umatilla -- voted 
against the measure.

"The east side is really different," said Howton, as several in the 
crowd nodded. "Things go differently here."

To understand those differences, consider: Deschutes County was the 
only county east of the Cascades to vote in favor of legal marijuana. 
Portland is home to nearly 100 licensed medical marijuana 
dispensaries, while Umatilla and Baker counties, where nearly 900 
medical marijuana patients reside, have none.

Patridge, who's also Klamath County's district attorney, told the 
Baker City audience that while he opposed Measure 91, he's determined 
to carry out the liquor commission's job of regulating the industry.

"I am not here to re-litigate whether recreational marijuana is good 
policy or bad policy," he said. "What I am here to talk to you about 
is how to put this thing together in a safe and responsible manner in 
the community and throughout the state of Oregon."

Under the new law, the job of regulating the marijuana industry falls 
to the liquor control commission, which will oversee how cannabis is 
produced, processed and sold.

Local communities can ban the sale of the drug within their city 
limits, but only through a vote of the people at a general election. 
Local leaders in places like Pendleton worry about the timing of the 
opt-out provision: The next general election is in November 2016, 
after the state is expected to have begun issuing licenses for 
marijuana growers, processors and retailers.

Rural residents say they've already seen signs of change. At the 
Baker City forum, Weigum talked about how a John Day shop now sells 
pipes for marijuana use.

"They are selling pipes in a glass case and the slushy machine is on 
top," said Weigum. "It normalizes things."

"And," said Howton, "brings it into every day conversation where 
maybe it shouldn't be."

It's hard to find a main thoroughfare in Portland that isn't home to 
a medical marijuana dispensary. Portland police have for years 
greeted the presence of these shops with a collective shrug, a nod to 
the city's "Keep Portland weird" slogan.

But it's a different story in Pendleton, which like Baker City, 
imposed a moratorium on medical dispensaries. Pendleton police 
enforce medical marijuana laws "pretty aggressively," performing 
"compliance checks" on cannabis growers to ensure they don't have 
more plants than they're allowed under law, said Police Chief Stuart Roberts.

"It's become more problematic because it becomes an exercise in 
futility," he said. "No one is going to prosecute it."

Pendleton police plan to continue to enforce existing marijuana laws 
until new possession and cultivation provisions take effect in July. 
And Roberts said there are no plans to phase out marijuana detection 
from the agency's K9 program.

The police chief said he worries most that the liquor control 
commission is already stretched too thin to enforce marijuana 
regulations. He said he fears that job will fall to police. And like 
many here, Roberts worries Pendleton's drug addiction rates will 
spike and kids will end up accidentally snacking on marijuana-infused 
cookies or other treats.

"You have a plateful of baked goods on the counter and they go to 
town on them," he said, offering up one possible scenario. "Pretty 
soon we have a significant issue."

Though worried, Roberts sounded resigned.

"The reality is it's here," he said, "and it's here to stay."

Many in Pendleton echo the chief's concerns and say they're unhappy 
about the prospect of a marijuana retailer nestled among storefronts 
selling saddles, cowboy boots and Old West memorabilia.

Richard Stapleman, 50, who makes cowboy boots in his downtown shop, 
said he's never tried marijuana.

"I know other guys who use it," said Stapleman, snipping leather for 
a pair of $800 red and black custom boots for the Pendleton mayor. "I 
think it makes you lazy. They've proven to me that it makes you lazy."

He said he wants Pendleton's elected leaders to pursue opting out of 
allowing retail marijuana shops.

"I want them to have to drive far and wide to get it," he said.

Across the street at Hamley & Co, the western store legendary for its 
saddles, owner Parley Pearce said legal marijuana will create a 
costly burden for taxpayers. Pearce, 65, a commercial developer who 
lives in Walla Walla, Washington, owns many buildings in downtown 
Pendleton, which he described as "a town with some sizzle." This is a 
place where visitors can spend the night in a former brothel that now 
operates as a charming downtown inn. Pearce is converting a second 
brothel into a hotel as well.

But even in a town with a past that might make Portland blush, legal 
marijuana goes too far for many. Pearce wants it to stay out of 
Umatilla County.

"It's not so much that I oppose personal choice," he said, standing 
outside of his saddle shop. "It's just that I know that people who 
make good personal choices end up paying for those who make bad choices."

If one needs proof that Pendleton tolerates some vices, look no 
further than the Wicked Kitty, a tattoo parlor that also peddles sex 
toys. Shop manager Angela Treadwell, 44, said she supports legal 
marijuana, though she doesn't use it.

She fears local political leaders will push for an opt-out of 
recreational marijuana  something City Council members are already 
interested in pursuing, said Chuck Wood, a Pendleton City Council member.

"It's on too fast a track for us to do an effective job to get it in 
place," Wood said.

A couple years ago, the Wicked Kitty added to its shelves glass pipes 
for marijuana consumption after local residents peppered Treadwell 
with requests for them. Pipes and vaporizer pens are displayed in a 
room tucked into the back of the second floor, past the area where 
pornographic movies and sex toys are sold.

Treadwell's biggest worry: whether the legal marijuana industry will 
even get off the ground in her hometown.

"Pendleton is a good old boy, cowboy town," said Treadwell. "I mean 
that respectfully. I love my town."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom