Oregon lawmakers take aim at explosion of illegal pot farms

By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Seven years after Oregon voters legalized the regulated production and use of recreational marijuana, the state Legislature is set to consider a raft of measures to crack down on an explosion of illegal pot farms. Underscoring the industrial-size scale of the illegal marijuana farms, law enforcement authorities announced they seized 52 tons of illegal marijuana last year. That was in southern Oregon alone. Many of the growers are claiming to be legal hemp farmers but are instead cultivating plants with illegal amounts of THC, the component that creates the “high.” One of the new bills aims to financially punish them.