Posted on 01/06/2018 10:15:05 AM PST by NobleFree
U.S. Attorney Billy Williams on Friday said he's troubled by the overproduction of marijuana in Oregon and the black market exportation of the crop to other states, though he declined to detail how his office will carry out a new federal directive stripping legal protections for marijuana businesses.
In his first public comments since Thursday's announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice, Williams told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he's awaiting additional guidance from federal officials. He offered a cautious response, saying he doesn't "believe in overreacting."'
"I want to be methodical and thoughtful about what we do here in the District of Oregon," he said.
His answer is likely to frustrate Gov. Kate Brown, who held a press conference in front of the U.S. District Courthouse, where Williams works.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the Obama-era policy that allowed legalized marijuana to flourish in Oregon and other states without much federal interference.
The governor vigorously defended the state's legal marijuana market and accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of "ripping the rug out from underneath the marijuana industry," which she pointed out has generated thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue for the state.
Brown's staff continues to press Williams for a guarantee that he won't meddle in legal pot sales and production.
"We want assurance that nobody is going after lawful Oregon businesses operating under Oregon law," Jeffrey Rhoades, Brown's marijuana policy advisor, said Friday.
State officials pointed out new state laws aimed at cracking down on the black market and additional police assigned to a law enforcement task force in southern Oregon to curb the illicit market as evidence that Oregon takes federal concerns seriously.
Sessions roiled Oregon's cannabis industry when he released a memo saying he would let federal prosecutors decide how aggressively to enforce federal marijuana law in states where the drug is legal.
Under President Obama, the federal government took a largely hands-off approach to recreational and medical marijuana provided states developed robust regulations targeting illegal distribution.
In a document known as the Cole memo, federal enforcement officials spelled out their marijuana enforcement priorities, which included cracking down on the black market, violent crime and keeping the drug from minors. Those guidelines served as a roadmap for states as they crafted rules.
Under federal law, marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug, a category of drugs that includes heroin and is defined as substances that have a "high potential for abuse" and "no currently accepted medical use."
Oregon was the first state to decriminalize personal possession of marijuana in 1973 and legalized medical marijuana in 1998. Voters overwhelmingly approved its recreational program in 2014, becoming the third state behind Colorado and Washington to do so.
The state's industry employed more than 20,000 people last year and generated close to $450 million in sales, according to Beau Whitney, a senior economist with New Frontier Data, a market research firm.
Yet Oregon's seed-to-sale regulation of marijuana has done little to reduce the state's notorious role as a black market source, said Williams, who on Friday called it a "huge problem."
"That has been my concern for months," he said.
He questioned why Oregon has failed to contain marijuana production by limiting the number of licenses it issues. According to the latest figures from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, the agency that regulates marijuana, the state has licensed 892 marijuana producers. The agency is in the process of reviewing another 766 applications for producer licenses.
"There is currently no cap," Williams said. "Why not?
He said he remains unconvinced that Oregon has taken adequate steps to address problems identified in a draft report obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive last year. The report, later criticized by the governor as inaccurate and biased, concluded that Oregon has an "expansive geographic footprint" on the black market, with a half-dozen counties leading the way in supplying much of what is shipped out of state.
"I assume that has only grown in the last 12 months," Williams said.
Even as the new federal directive injected uncertainty into an already risky business, some in the industry said many entrepreneurs seem to be taking the announcement in stride.
Vince Sliwoski, a lawyer who advises Oregon marijuana businesses, said "it's full speed ahead" for his clients.
"Regardless of what Jeff Sessions does with policy guidance, I believe this ship has sailed and they'll keep doing what they are doing," Sliwoski said.
Cannabis activists also point out that Sessions seems to have galvanized a broad swath of politicians from states with recreational and medical marijuana -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- who blasted the announcement.
The policy shift was announced days after retail pot shops opened for business in California, creating what industry analysts say will become the world's largest market for legal marijuana.
Since 2012, eight states and Washington, D.C., have voted to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. A total of 28 states have legalized pot for medical purposes.
"It's just so enormous at this point," said Amy Margolis, who also advises cannabis clients in Oregon. "When you bring California online it really does feel like it's game over for federal prohibition because it's such a vast cannabis economy."
Until the Cole memo, issued in 2013, police raids of large-scale marijuana farms in southern Oregon weren't uncommon. Previous U.S. attorneys fired off letters to dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries informing them they were breaking federal laws and raising the specter of prosecution and property seizures.
Amanda Marshall, the former U.S. attorney for Oregon who resigned in 2015, said the memo prompted a clear shift in priorities away from marijuana enforcement.
Marshall said Williams is likely hearing from law enforcement officials and others around the state and in Washington, D.C., who take issue with legal marijuana.
Those perspectives, she said, are bound to shape his response.
"He has different people pushing him," said Marshall, "including his boss, Jeff Sessions."
“I can only assume that the majority of people who think Sessions is wrong on this must be making $ growing dope.”
Highly questionable, given the majority support for legalization. An even larger number support leaving the decision to the states.
More likely, a majority of people supporting Sessions are benefiting from prohibition in the form of $$$ seizures, federal funding, job security etc.
This confirms what I thought. Sessions is going to go after the smugglers taking it across state lines for sale.
I have not seen reliable surveys about voters’ positions on legalizing mj.
I can’t find with a few minutes’ searching the percentage of OR voters who were for legalizing mj, but there is a lot of voter regret now that people experience the results of legalization, and these are not people who are getting $ from the gov.
DMOTMC of course refuse to see the slightest downside to mj use or legalization; $ or habitual use may be involved in many; others are just naive fools.
(Devout Members Of The Marijuana Cult)
And DACA-ites. If they commit a crime, they’re OUT.
Since way more than 90% of the dope grown around here is not permiited, and thus not taxed, the state isn’t getting very much compared to if it was all legal.
Which it is not, in any state that legalizes it. The black market dope skyrockets, along with way overuse of dangerous chemicals, environment destruction, increased crime, and so on and so forth.
That pesky 10th Amendment puts federal prohibitionists on the wrong side.
Jail them all, our children, bothers and sisters, parents, cousins, friends, everyone.
__________________________________________________
You mean everyone you know is smoking pot? You say put everyone in jail but not everyone, outside your family and friends, is smoking it. And no one will force your family and friends to smoke it should regulations increase - they have a choice. If they are emotionally dependent on it they can attend addiction groups to stop.
I think that legalized states are growing it for surrounding states. I read that CO had a dramatic rise in arrests due to illegal growing operation. Too many people see what they think of as easy money flowing and want in.
Dopers see everything through the lens of dope. Of course the ultimate goal is legalizing all drugs, that has been an intrinsic platform of the Libertarian Party since its inception.
Absolutely.
Thus dopers say it should all be legal so that wouldn’t happen. It would still happen since a lot of states don’t have conducive climates (SW OR has one of the very best) and growing totally in heated and lighted greenhouses is much more expensive. Plus illegal grow ops make more $ since no licensing and permit fees, no taxes, and they can uses prohibited chemicals.
Here in OR all legal dope has to be tested in a lab and if too many or any prohibited chemicals, it cannot be sold in the state licensed outlets.
Last year, 80% of all the legal dope tested in the lab failed the test. So of course illegal growers don’t want to go through that hassle, expense and risk that their product is deemed too toxic to sell.
Another fanasty argument put up by DMOTMC - that anyone having one joint or little baggie of dope in their possession is put in prison.
Nonsense.
Trump ran on MAGA. Trump was elected on MAGA. Going after pot in states where voters exercised the will to legalize it is not MAGA.
That's my problem with all of this.
So that excuses fedgov violating the Tenth Amendment?
If you got a ping to this thread from the group, you’re on the list. Sounds like they recognize the problem in the southern counties. I could be crazy, but I’ll bet fishing organizations like Trout Unlimited could get the governor’s ear re: your local problems. Kitzhaber would probably been all over it.
I’m in Wa state. Retail prices are low so there’s little black market. In Ca they’ve taxed the crap out of it plus allow home growing. No idea what’s going on in Co beyond ample reports of tax revenue well beyond expectations. Same in Nv.
However, it doesn’t matter what tax revenue is realized, it’s a way for the feds to apply pressure to legal weed states which, unsurprisingly, also are very pro Illegal Alien.
I hoped you would see the hypocritical sarcasm in my rant.
They could well be your family and friends too, medical and recreational use, we are all affected by marijuana use, even if you and I don’t.
My point was that marijuana is so pervasive in our society that full federal enforcement would be insane, not just stupid, insane. And, we taxpayers would have to foot the bill.
Marijuana is less an addiction than a lifestyle. Sure there are those that will abuse anything and they need to see that and change their ways. But very few marijuana users see it as a problem.
Most see it as a solution to medical and emotional needs.
Lock them up??????
Even possession of small amounts is a violation of federal law.
And, any conviction of any amount of marijuana and federal law prohibits you from possessing firearms.
Firearms are being confiscated now in Hawaii for any state legal medical marijuana users.
What do you think of that?
This is an absolute must. Let's move on to the real crimes.
Corporate farming of marijuana has brought the price down.
However when that price gets jacked up by state taxes, black market cannibis is again competitive.
CA looks to gain a billion dollars a year in NEW state tax revenue. Think that will bring the hogs to the trough?
That’s not at all the case here in the Tri-Cities, where I know you’ve lived in the past. Why not come on back?
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