Oregon officials twice neglected to deliver key documents when The Oregonian/OregonLive sought to learn about a state-licensed day care operating in the home of a Portland marijuana entrepreneur. The search started July 10 with a public records request to the state Office of Child Care. It asked for documents including anything submitted by Step by Step's employees, operators or owners. Agency officials provided records between July 15 and Aug. 2. But missing from the documents were forms that Step by Step's top employees, Bre Murphy and Shai King, each submitted when they closed the business June 20. [continues 277 words]
State regulators allowed a Portland man to have a childcare business in his home while owning a storefront dispensary selling marijuana. Those potentially dueling interests didn't surface until this summer, after two childcare employees quit and contacted the state. They accused the day care owner, Samuel Watson, of keeping large amounts of marijuana inside his Alameda home and said he was putting children at risk. Watson categorically denies the allegations, and state officials have not found him at fault. Without key employees, Watson in June was forced to shut down his in-home day care and a second location in Concordia. [continues 2387 words]
[photo] 10,000 People Smoke Cannabis on Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C. to Protest Trump's Pick of Drug Warrior Jeff Sessions The weed was pretty good. #Trump420 protest in Washington, D.C. (Corey Pein) An estimated 10,000 people lined up for five blocks to collect some 8,000 free joints at this morning's surprisingly punctual #Trump420 protest at Dupont Circle in Northwest Washington, DC. The mellow, all but police-free event was a first stop for President Donald Trump's protesters and fans alike this Inauguration Day morning. The weed was pretty good. [continues 293 words]
Marijuana rules still rankle The Oregon Liquor Control Commission approved temporary rule changes Dec. 19 that take effect Sunday for recreational marijuana businesses. In one change, growers who accept responsibility for illegally applying pesticides will receive a warning for a first violation, according to an OLCC news release Wednesday. Subsequent violations could result in harsher penalties, including loss of an OLCC-issued license to grow marijuana. The change is in keeping with regulations set by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, said OLCC spokesman Mark Pettinger on Thursday. Another change allows makers of edible products with cannabis butter, a concentrate, to produce that concentrate in the same commercial kitchen where the edible product is also made. [continues 392 words]
Study: Fatal Car Crashes Declined After Oregon Legalized Cannabis The Portland Police Bureau and other local law-enforcement agencies are pledging to step up DUII patrols on New Year's Eve to catch intoxicated drivers. But a new national study says the Oregon roads are getting less drunk and dangerous-and it cautiously credits legal weed. The frequency of traffic fatalities in Oregon has dropped significantly since the state legalized medical marijuana, according to a new study from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. [continues 270 words]
What's up with all those lame "Stay True to You" anti-pot billboards all over the city? I hear when Big Tobacco had to run anti-smoking ads, they used market research to deliberately create the worst ads possible. Is that what's going on here? -- Not Impressed I assume you're referring to the Philip Morris company's infamous "Think. Don't Smoke" campaign, which I think about often and totally did not have to look up in any way. [continues 279 words]
The OLCC Is Dragging Its Feet on Recreational Licenses, and the Clock Is Ticking WHEN THE Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) was tasked with handling Oregon's adult use cannabis program-AKA the recreational weed sales that we have come to know and love-the news didn't send massive throngs out dancing in the streets. To say that Oregonians have a complex relationship with the OLCC is an understatement. Among the agency's new, cannabis-related responsibilities? Issuing all the recreational licenses in the state-be they for dispensaries, growers, processors, wholesalers, labs that test cannabis and cannabis products, and the makers of edibles. [continues 625 words]
Williams Farm With Elaborate Greenhouse Operation Underscores Huge Growth in Local Marijuana Industry WILLIAMS - Josephine County's growing marijuana industry is experiencing growing pains. The number of medical marijuana grow sites in the county has remained steady from a year ago, at about 2,500. But growers who sell to retailers have been sprouting up - 38 new state-issued licenses have been granted this summer to people who plan to grow for the recreational market. More applications are pending. Pivoting to take advantage of retailer preference for indoor-grown marijuana, these new operations are springing up in former pastures and fields across the county. [continues 564 words]
SALEM, ORE. (AP) - Living marijuana plants went on display Friday at the Oregon State Fair, with organizers saying it's the first state fair in the nation to allow cannabis for public viewing. The state voted to legalize recreational marijuana in late 2014. Here are a few things to know about legal pot in Oregon and the display at the fair: The Oregon State Fair allowed a display about marijuana without any living plants last year and it generated no complaints. So this year, the organization took the next step and agreed to let marijuana growers display live plants. [continues 349 words]
New Ground Broken by Oregon Agricultural Show Growers Look to Product's Potential As Cash Crop This week Nathan Martinez's family will head to the Oregon state fair to view the prizewinning plants he has hydroponically grown and lovingly cultivated: both the sativa super sour diesel and the indica granddaddy purple. Oregon legalised the recreational use of cannabis by over-21s two years ago For the first time, the fair, one of the country's most family-friendly traditions - synonymous with the tilt-a-whirl, funnel cake and blue ribbon pigs - is to feature marijuana plants. [continues 691 words]
A Plea for Descheduling Cannabis NOT LONG AGO, I wrote about the slight, slim chance that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule II [Cannabuzz, July 6]. You remember what Schedule I is-it's the list of drugs defined as having "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." Along with cannabis, some of the other drugs listed as Schedule I are heroin, LSD, ecstasy, peyote, and Quaaludes. Not exactly respectable company. [continues 689 words]
No Rescheduling Cannabis, But Plenty of Other Activity WHAT'S WITH all the federal weed law action? My head is spinning! MINE, TOO. Last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced it would not change its dismal tune on cannabis, and that weed would remain a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Then, the Obama administration announced it would ease barriers on marijuana research, despite the Schedule I restriction. Then, a bunch of federal attorneys general got pwned in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding their prosecution of medical marijuana businesses, which is a pretty big deal. [continues 399 words]
Collections Are Exceeding Projections Pot smokers are paying even more in taxes than state officials thought they would. According to figures released Monday by the Oregon Department of Revenue, Oregon's recreational marijuana sales tax has generated $25.5 million in revenue so far this year, exceeding projections by millions. In the first quarter of 2016, the Oregon Department of Revenue collected $14.9 million from recreational pot sales. In May and June alone, retail outlets collected $10.6 million in taxes to push the year-to-date total over $25 million. [continues 392 words]
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Nine living marijuana plants will be displayed at the Oregon State Fair in a first of its kind event for the United States starting next Friday. The exhibit of the nonflowering, immature plants brings pot cultivation more into the agricultural mainstream less than two years after Oregon voters legalized recreational marijuana. The Oregon Cannabis Business Council, which organized the exhibit, says it's the first time live cannabis will be shown at a state fair anywhere in the U.S. [continues 421 words]
What to Read Before-and After-You Get High HELLO THERE! Do you enjoy reading? How about reading about cannabis? I ask because if you're reading this column (or if it's being read to you by a service monkey using typing-to-speech-recognition software), it seems like you might enjoy some books on cannabis. I certainly hope so, because this week's column is about four of them. You could get them all through Powell's or many local, independent booksellers. [continues 605 words]
Of Pot, Felons, and Duped Canadians TELL ME about the weed fraud case! WEED, FELONS, forgeries, lawsuits, California swindlers, and duped Canadian backers-the weed fraud case had it all. The culprits in this story are a Northeast Portland dispensary called Cannacea, its owner Tisha Siler, a California group called Green Rush Consulting, and, per the Oregonian, a Green Rush employee who did hard time for wire fraud. Siler, Cannacea, and Green Rush were busted last month for especially bad behavior. [continues 419 words]
The federal Drug Enforcement Administration delivered recently good news and bad to the nation's growing marijuana industry. It will not remove weed, which is legal for both medicinal and recreational purposes in Oregon, from its Class I schedule. It will allow more experimentation to determine just how dangerous - or helpful - marijuana really is. Substances on the Class I list include, in addition to marijuana, such things as LSD, heroin, peyote and ecstasy. They have no widely recognized medicinal value and they are, according to the DEA, highly addictive. The worst of the worst, in other words. [continues 266 words]
SALEM, ORE. - Marijuana leaves of all shapes and sizes lined a competition alcove at the Oregon State Fairgrounds on Saturday. The plants were surrounded by hundreds of booths listing technology, agriculture and business innovations in the cannabis growing industry. "People say we've 'Microsofted' the cannabis industry," organizer Mary Lou Burton joked. The weekend was the first marijuana growers fair in Oregon, hosted at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. Sponsored by the state marijuana business council, and with presentations from state agencies regulating the newly legalized industry, it highlighted a number of desires from Oregon entrepreneurs and businesses to turn the state into a go-to region for marijuana. [continues 219 words]
SALEM, Ore. - People flocked to Oregon's firstever marijuana growers' fair Saturday, where a competition for best pot plants will be held with the winning entries to be displayed later this month at the Oregon State Fair. The two-day event underscores how the industry is starting to go mainstream in Oregon, one of four states to have legalized recreational marijuana use, along with Washington, D.C. Donald Morse, a pot grower who conceived the Oregon Cannabis Growers' Fair, said the fair aims to "demystify" marijuana. [continues 191 words]
SALEM (AP) - People flocked to Oregon's first-ever marijuana growers' fair on Saturday where a competition for best pot plants was being held, with the winners to be displayed at the Oregon State Fair. The inaugural two-day Oregon Cannabis Growers' Fair underscores how the once-illicit marijuana industry is starting to go mainstream in Oregon, one of four states to have legalized recreational marijuana use, along with Washington, D.C. Ed Rosenthal, known in pot circles as the Guru of Ganja, poked, prodded, rubbed and sniffed several dozen marijuana plants - some of which were so big they engulfed him in an exhibition hall on the Oregon State Fairgrounds. He and other judges were picking nine winning plants - three in each of three categories - that will be displayed at the Oregon State Fair for two weeks starting later this month. [continues 351 words]
Winning Pot-Plant Entries Will Be Displayed at the Oregon State Fair SALEM (AP) - From seed providers to a company offering mechanized bud trimmers, those involved in the once-illicit marijuana industry in the Pacific Northwest got ready on Friday for the first-ever Oregon Cannabis Growers' Fair. Reggae music thumped from Savant Plant Technologies' display as owner James Knox, 38, of Corvallis, set up his do-it-yourself grow package, including peat and microorganisms to stimulate plant growth, among more than 80 exhibitors registered for the two-day fair that starts Saturday. [continues 188 words]
You're Welcome IN THE PAST, I've written about how long I've been making super-strong cannabis-infused cookies [Cannabuzz, June 24, 2015], and how their strength has resulted in some serious mishaps [Cannabuzz, June 1, 2016]. For two decades, people have asked about my trade secret. But unless the person asking was an Oregon Medical Marijuana Program patient of mine, I've always politely sidestepped how I manage to make my cookies "so damn strong." But since I'm not planning on opening up an edibles company, I recently decided it was time to share what I know. Sadly for some of you, this involves the Great White Devil to most of the GOP... science. If facts and the like offend you, I suggest chalking up the how and why of that part to the magic of one J.H. Christ. [continues 560 words]
WHAT'S GOING ON with the medical marijuana program? Is it going away? I THINK SO, and I hope so, and I expect rowdy emails for saying so. After 18 years, the program has run its course. Going forward, I would like to see everything combined into one big casserole, with protections baked in for current medical program patients. That way, we curtail the waste of two big Oregon agencies intensively regulating one little plant. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA) was enacted in 1998. It has been amended several times, and today, there's significant overlap with the emerging retail market. Back in the day, the OMMA was drafted to protect patients and their caregivers from criminal liability. Those were commendable goals, but the program never made sense from a business perspective. That would be fine, of course, if the OMMA hadn't created a sizable market. [continues 330 words]
Both Medical and Recreational Marijuana Commerce Would Be Outlawed If Measure Passes In a unanimous vote Wednesday night, Grants Pass City Council referred an ordinance to the November ballot that would ban virtually all forms of marijuana commerce in the city. The decision comes about a year after the council voted to enact two ordinances banning marijuana, one dealing with recreational marijuana and the other dealing with medical marijuana. The new version approved Wednesday consolidates both medical and recreational into a single ordinance. [continues 241 words]
For One Whole Day IT WAS the mid '80s, and I was living in the jewel of Northern California: Sacramento, where the only culture was the agriculture. I was doing my time in high school, trying to sort out all the things that go on during those golden years, particularly trying to figure out what was "cool." And that included cannabis. I had already tried drinking. My first few forays involved beer-or, at least, some Mickey's Big Mouths, as this was still a long time before craft microbrews were a thing. Not long after, someone produced a bottle of tequila. My first time drinking it, I quite literally went blind in the city's only 24-hour doughnut shop, and then proceeded to vomit until the early hours of the next day in their tiny, filthy bathroom. [continues 607 words]
You Can Make a Pot Commercial, but There Are Hoops to Jump Through I'm filming a pot commercial! I can do that, right? YES, YOU CAN definitely make a pot commercial. Before you start, though, you should study up on the rules for pot commercials and pot ads in general. You should also note that distribution of your ad might be limited, depending on your approach. I'll explain. Back when Measure 91 passed, you and your friends assigned the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) the especially tricky job of regulating pot ads. This job is particularly tough because our state constitution contains the broadest speech protections in the nation (resulting in a naked bike ride, tons of strip clubs, and no campaign finance restrictions). So although OLCC latitude in this area may be cramped, the agency took a whack at it. They came up with a few rules you might have expected; others may surprise you. [continues 362 words]
PORTLAND, Ore. - In two weeks, more than 100 of Oregon's top niche horticulturists will gather to celebrate their craft at a fair considered the first of its kind, one that promises $10,000 in prizes and colorful, proud ribbons to the best among them. Farmers will be judged "4-H" style, they've been told, though their crops inspire categories that are far from heartland tradition. Sativa, indica, hybrid. These guys harvest pot. The inaugural Oregon Cannabis Growers' Fair, according its website, "is an opportunity to bring the entire industry under one roof to learn from 'master growers,'" and will feature the state's "first-ever cannabis live plant competition." [continues 97 words]
A public hearing Wednesday about a proposed tax on the retail sale of marijuana in Josephine County blossomed to include comments about problems with marijuana growing operations. No opposition to the tax surfaced from a handful of people who addressed the county Board of Commissioners at the Basker Auditorium, although there were plenty of suggestions about how to spend the money - including education, treatment, health and public safety programs. But the subject of the hearing and a later comment period grew to include complaints about marijuana growing operations, including complaints that they use too much water, smell skunky, are enclosed by ugly fences and allow pesticides to float away on the wind. [continues 406 words]
Marijuana Growers Will Compete for Blue Ribbons in Oregon, Another Indicator of Cannabis' Booming Reputation As Cash Crop SEATTLE - To the list of breakthroughs in an ever-changing world where cars drive themselves, faces are surgically transplanted and Russian hackers are accused of manipulating the U.S. presidential campaign, add this development: marijuana growers can now compete for blue ribbons in the state fair. That's what Oregon officials say will happen at their fair in Salem next month. Besides tastiest apple pie and plumpest pig, pot will be judged for its finer attributes, including color, aroma, leaf structure and lack of pests. [continues 381 words]
Yep, They Are. What's the deal with cannabidiol (CBD) pet treats? Are they really a thing? YES, CBD-INFUSED pet treats are definitely a thing. They are often marketed to "all pets, large and small," and you can order them online from any number of manufacturers. As with any product, some of the websites look better than others. Some even contain product testimonials from pet owners, which can make for delightful reading. Pet treats are pricey little morsels designed to relieve ill and aging animals. Sellers also promote them for anxiety and "bonding" issues. These treats are infused with non-psychoactive CBD and they are marketed to the humane souls among us concerned with arthritic rabbits, not the guy who blows smoke in his cat's face. [continues 372 words]
WHEN MEASURE 91 passed, I heard more than one prohibitionist sneer at the idea and ask, "What's next, legalizing all the other drugs?" And certainly there is a small, albeit growing, movement to decriminalize all drugs, and to treat the use of them more as a public health issue than a criminal one. But this being 'Murica, how would that work? What would it look like? Sweet Jesus, I'm glad you asked, because that's what this week's column is about. Welcome to... [continues 640 words]
Critics Call the Assertion an 'Opinion,' and Author Admits It's A 'Guess' Medical marijuana growers in Oregon are producing far more product than they or their customer-patients can consume, feeding a black market that doesn't appear to be going away soon, according to a controversial new report. An estimated 70 percent of the crop will be distributed illegally next year, according to a draft report from the Portland consulting firm ECONorthwest, which has been hired by Josephine County and the city of Grants Pass to study the local economy, including the marijuana industry. [continues 572 words]
It's been suspected for some time that a lot more marijuana was being produced by medical growers than could be consumed by patients, and now the evidence is beginning to surface. First came the arrest of a Jackson County dispensary owner in Siskiyou County for allegedly hauling marijuana across the California line for illegal sale. Now an economic analysis has concluded that a huge percentage of marijuana ostensibly grown in Josephine County for medical patients is instead feeding the black market. [continues 332 words]
It's Not Hard, But You'll Need to Study Up-and Pony Up Do I really have to pay $100 to work in recreational marijuana? YES, YOU REALLY DO. And you must pass a test and a criminal background check. If you conquer these three labors like a modern-day Heracles, you should be golden. Oregon recently followed Colorado's lead in requiring that weed industry workers carry papers. Whereas Colorado workers sport classy "badges," however, Oregon workers will just be getting "permits." This permit requirement applies to everyone toiling in the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's (OLCC) seed-to-sale system. Their counterparts in the medical marijuana program, as well as lab and research certificate employees, are exempt. So if you really, really hate tests, or you are a pauper or felonious type, this may not be your enterprise. [continues 366 words]
Potfolio. Get It? POP QUIZ! Remember last week when we talked about how cool it was that banks are full-on supporters and cheerleaders for cannabis businesses? Trick question. Actually, last week I wrote about the exact opposite of that. It turns out that obtaining and keeping even a simple checking account is difficult beyond measure for legal cannabis enterprises. I didn't even touch on how impossible it is for a canna business to get funding from a traditional bank. It was sort of a bummer column, actually. [continues 645 words]
Cops and Prosecutors Are Embracing a Radical Idea: Not Filing Drug Possession Cases HERE'S THE DEAL: People are using drugs in this city, despite decades of law enforcement's best efforts. That fight has landed thousands of people in jail and prison-far too many of them people of color. It's created hardships for Portlanders who need jobs and a place to stay, but find that a criminal record has closed the door to those things. It's led to tensions between police and communities of color that are playing out-vividly, tragically-every day around the country. [continues 1255 words]
Is That State's Brand-New Cannabis Initiative Any Good? What do you think of California's brand new pot initiative? IT'S A MIXED BAG, but I'm getting on board. Last week, California announced that the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) officially has a home on the state's November ballot. Over the past year, the concept of legalization among California voters has been polling very well. It seems almost certain the AUMA will pass. My law firm's California attorneys have been looking at AUMA intensively for the past few months, and report that the 62-pager is more complex than Washington, Oregon, and Colorado's initiatives. For example, AUMA provides for an astonishing 19 separate business licenses, and its distribution model recalls the convoluted rules of booze. For these and other reasons AUMA has many opponents, even among pot boosters. [continues 364 words]
It's Still Impossible for Cannabis Businesses to Open Bank Accounts AT A RECENT cannabis event I went to, the crowd was made up of cannabis professionals: dispensary owners and staff, growers, edible makers, processors, and wholesalers. Among the speakers was the head of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's (OLCC) cannabis program. During the Q&A, a grower brought up how that very week, his bank account had been shut down-the third time in the past year. "The bank said it's because I'm involved with cannabis," he said, "and I wanted to ask you a question: I pay my taxes and fees to the OLCC in cash, which I made growing and selling cannabis. I take it the OLCC has a bank account. Correct?" [continues 603 words]
State Hopes to Prevent and Delay Usage by Underage People Less than two years after recreational marijuana was legalized in the state, the Oregon Healthy Authority is launching a program to dissuade young residents from using it. The message: Marijuana can affect brain development, impair abilities and jeopardize people's health and careers. The OHA is piloting the campaign in Medford and Portland using web ads, streaming radio and TV and Facebook ads. It's being funded with $4 million allocated by the Legislature in this year's session to help prevent marijuana use among youth, according to Kati Moseley, policy specialist with the OHA Public Health Division. [continues 373 words]
Did the Democratic Party Just Endorse Legalization? Did the Democratic Party just endorse national legalization of weed? NO, BUT the party added "marijuana law reform" as a platform plank to be adopted this month. It's a step. The two big US political parties tend to scrape together an agenda and revise their platforms in presidential election years. Bernie Sanders (remember him?) was doing pretty well around the time the platform drafting committee was convened, and he got to appoint 7 of its 15 members. Those members proposed some short and sweet language around cannabis, offering that "we will refocus our drug policy by removing marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and allowing states to set their own policies." (Period.) This language dovetailed with Bernie's Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015, which was shipped off to the Senate Judiciary Committee last November, never to be heard from again. [continues 337 words]
Hold Your Horses, Rescheduling Weed Isn't Happening Just Yet HEY, YOU GUYS, did you hear? The federal government is about to make weed legal. No, for reals, I saw it on Facebook, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is going to totally make it so doctors have to give it to you, for free! Thanks Obama! I'm gonna make my doctor give me an ounce next week! Before you start demanding that your podiatrist procure you some shatter, maybe we should do what Americans sort of suck at-taking a pause and examining what's really up. [continues 634 words]
To the editor: David Clear makes an interesting argument about marijuana production and retail sales. It seems our city council was duped after Prohibition was repealed, for at some point, the council must have approved sale of alcohol in our town. Alcohol is sold here and produced here, but there is no movement to change that. Our children are subjected to sales of alcohol daily. Alcohol is not just consumed here, but the use is glorified by events such as annual beerfests, most recently held at a city park. Perhaps alcohol should receive the same treatment as marijuana. Times, attitudes, morals and behaviors change. We study history to help understand. Dick Stentz The Dalles [end]
Here's How a Component of Weed Helped Someone with Seizures THESE ARE DAYS when it's important to find some good news, to seek out stories that remind us of our fellow human's capacity for decency, compassion, and selflessness. So turn away from the darkness-just for a minute, it'll still be there if you start to miss it-and let's examine the light for a minute. At a recent cannabis event, I spoke with Jesse Peters, CEO of Eco Firma Farms. We talked about upcoming events, projects, and the ever-changing landscape of cannabis regulations. Peters is a friend-full disclosure-and I asked him if he was aware of anything that I may have missed that would make a good column. He paused for a second. [continues 589 words]
As the Heroin Epidemic Grows Worse, People Are Finally Talking About It "HERE THEY COME!" The call goes up before the bicycles roll to a complete stop on a recent Friday, sending a ripple of energy up and down the Central Eastside block. Soon, grateful drug users are coming from every direction to speak with four volunteers bearing stuffed backpacks and two bountiful bike trailers. "Needles?" asks one woman. "Who brought needles?" She's handed a pack of 50 new syringes, and offered her choice of an array of injection materials-three sizes of cotton wads, two kinds of rubber tourniquets (in case anyone's allergic to latex), tiny cups for cooking heroin, kits for treating wounds caused by injections, and more. [continues 1444 words]
Will Making Weed a Schedule II Drug Be Bad for Oregon? I read that weed might be removed from Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). Is that bad for the Oregon scene? NOT IN MY OPINION, but people disagree. The argument is that if weed were moved to Schedule II or III, big pharma would roll in and crush the little guys (that is, everyone who sells weed in the legit or gray market). But I think the little guys would be fine, just like today. [continues 390 words]
SALEM (AP) - Sales and tax figures collected by state agencies may finally solve one of Oregon's long-running farm crop questions: whether marijuana is indeed the state's most valuable crop, as cannabis advocates have maintained. Tight controls and reporting requirements by the Oregon Department of Revenue and Oregon Liquor Control Commission should result in accurate information about pot, said Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture. The department compiles an annual list of the state's most valuable crops. [continues 406 words]
Threats to put anti-pot measures on the ballot were juxtaposed against complaints about overregulation during a packed meeting Thursday evening about the future of the burgeoning marijuana industry in Josephine County. Many in attendance at the Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass complained about the industry, bringing up concerns about traffic, illegal water use, travel trailers moving in, water pollution and even threats of violence. Others talked up the benefits of marijuana as medicine and an economic boon. [continues 567 words]
In a rare ruling, an arbitrator has found that Lane County government erred in firing an employee for his off-duty use of medical marijuana late last year. Michael Hirsch, a 60-year-old prostate cancer survivor, will be reinstated to his job as a senior programmer and systems analyst next week and given $21,550 in back pay for the six months since he was terminated. Arbitrator Jeffrey Jacobs based his ruling on the fact that the county provided no evidence Hirsch had used marijuana at work or that his off-duty use hurt his job performance. Hirsch, hired by the county in early 2015, had received "a number of very positive messages and reviews" from supervisors, Jacobs wrote. [continues 1110 words]
If a Customer Does Something Stupid, Are Business Owners to Blame? I own a marijuana dispensary. Will I get in trouble if a customer does something stupid after visiting my shop? I DON'T THINK SO, but anything is possible. You may have been alarmed by the recent Colorado lawsuit where a man named Richard Kirk shot and killed his wife after consuming a cannabis edible. This happened in 2014, but the Kirks' kids and other family members recently sued two Denver-based marijuana companies: the processor that made the product, and the dispensary that sold it. As for Kirk, he was charged with first-degree murder and pled guilty, but switched his plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. Kirk claims that cannabis rendered him insane at the time of the slaying. [continues 374 words]
Not Everyone in the Cannabis World Is Chill "That's the thing about people who smoke weed," said a friend to me recently. "They are some of the most laid-back, easygoing people I've ever met." We were talking about how people who have just consumed cannabis behave compared to those who have consumed alcohol. And within the context of that particular comparison, I absolutely agreed. But recently, I've found the exact opposite to be true. And after conversations with others in the cannabis industry, I'm beginning to rethink my position. Because there is some truly fucked-up behavior going on, and it's not helping anyone. [continues 643 words]
Inside Oregon
