Southern Oregon legal pot growers frustrated by illegal operations
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A licensed cannabis grower, a vineyard owner and a sheriff were among witnesses who testified this week before a committee of the Oregon Legislature, in an effort to seek help in stemming the proliferation of illegal grow sites in southern Oregon.
One lawmaker told the committee that millions of dollars will need to be spent to support law enforcement and site inspectors each year, for several years until the situation comes under control. Many illegal marijuana farms are operating under the guise of being legal hemp farms.
Amanda Metzler, a licensed cannabis grower, has beefed up security around her property and no longer dares to go out after dark because she’s afraid of armed cartel members who run illegal marijuana farms in her region — even directly across the street.
Elin Miller, a vineyard owner, said the illegal sites have lured away so many field workers that grape growers and wineries are suffering labor shortages, particularly at harvest time.
Jackson County Sheriff Nathan Sickler says the crime rate, associated with the thousands of illegal marijuana farms that have sprung up this year in southern Oregon, has gone through the roof.
“We’ve had stabbings, robberies, thefts, burglaries, homicides, sex crimes, motor vehicle accidents, DUIs, all related to the influx of the marijuana-cannabis industry in our in our valley,” Sickler said. “It is certainly an issue we deal with on a daily basis here.”
The three were among witnesses who testified Tuesday before a committee of the Oregon Legislature, in an effort to seek help in stemming the proliferation of illegal grow sites in southern Oregon.
The managers of the sites — which were brazenly erected last spring primarily in Jackson and Josephine counties in the largely rural region near the California state line — have stolen water from rivers, creeks and aquifers during a severe drought and abused immigrant workers, officials have said.
Read more at: https://apnews.com/article/business-crime-oregon-marijuana-a9f954b41f4b7c512e7b7d3537b0f115
