OHA seeks AG ruling on Deschutes medical grow list request
(Update: Sheriff Nelson comments)
The Oregon Health Authority has declined a request by the Deschutes County sheriff and district attorney to identify which of all 60,000 Deschutes County properties have a legally registered medical marijuana grow. But the agency also has requested a legal opinion from state Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum on whether it must do so.
OHA Director Patrick Allen said in a letter sent last Thursday that “OHA wants to be a partner to local law enforcement” by helping verify legally registered medical marijuana grow sites, but “can only do so within the authority granted by the Legislature.”
Allen noted that DA John Hummel and Shane Nelson had written to the agency April 5 and offered “an alternative reading of the statutory confidentiality provisions which would, in your view, allow OHA to provide you with a list of registered medical marijuana grow sites.”
Allen said the agency has requested an opinion regarding the request for a complete list, “or whether law enforcement must apply OHA with an address that is then verified.”
Recently, after their initial request was denied, Hummel and Nelson provided a thumb drive with a list of all property addresses in the county.
Allen said the agency also is asking Rosenblum to weigh in on whether law enforcement can supply a list of all addresses within its jurisdiction for verification of legal medical marijuana grows “or whether law enforcement needs to have some basis for requesting verification of a particular address.”
“In the meantime, OHA will continue to comply with the confidentiality and grow site verification provisions in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, as it has historically, and will verify specific addresses for law enforcement. … At this time, OMMP will not undertake verifying the over 60,000 addresses listed in the thumb drive you provided.”
Nelson told NewsChannel 21 on Monday the issue is that the state is unable to adequately regulate medical marijuana regulations with current staffing.
“Given the fact the Oregon Health Authority has five inspectors for nearly 20,000 licensed and registered sites shows that there’s not enough enforcement to go along with their regulation efforts,” he said.
