Let’s talk about water. One of the most common complaints from appellants who object to new marijuana production facilities in the outlying areas of town is water usage. Everyone from laypeople armed with anecdotes, to attorneys presenting statistics regarding well depths, have confronted local government in righteous, “environmentally conscious” indignation over the amount of precious […]
Smoke Signals
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CBD: Super legal and great
…Except when it’s not
Cannabis, and the devil’s cannabinoid, THC, are all the rage, but hemp and CBD are rapidly gaining as just as much attention and investment . The passage of the Farm Bill in December, which made hemp farming legal, led many to assume that hemp and CBD would immediately be freed from the concerns and regulations […]
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Zero Margin of Error
For local cannabis companies, staying within the bounds of the law becomes even more crucial
It’s time to come clean and admit it: I’m a supporter of the cannabis industry (I know, pick up your jaw, please). I firmly believe our decades-long strategy of prohibition has failed. Cops should not be locking up people whose only crime is a desire to make a Jimmy Page guitar solo a transcendental experience. […]
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Tokin’ Tunes
The artists with the most mentions of the green stuff
It’s summer—which means getting together with friends and family, some who partake, and partaking with those who do. Do you have a playlist for these times? Much like a joint, it would be much cooler if you did have a banging summer soundtrack with you at these BBQs, parties and al fresco sessions. A cannabis-themed […]
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Marijuana amendments take back seat to demagoguery at county board meeting
The Barnes-Sawyer room was jam-packed July 3, mostly with vocally anti-marijuana residents.
When rural residents in Deschutes County get a chance to holler into a microphone about the menacing presence of ganja farms staining their holy, pristine wilderness, community theater usually ensues. This was definitely the case last week, when the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners held a meeting to discuss amendments to marijuana rules that the […]
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Legal Progress in Marijuana?
As the presidential election looms, legislators show their hands on where they stand
Regular readers of this column (hi, Mom) will attest I am a strong proponent of cannabis legalization at the national level. Not simply rescheduling cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 or lower, but full out descheduling, and making it a legal commodity. Which is the dream, but that won’t happen until the great white […]
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Oregon is Ready to Get the Nation High
Some progress at the state and federal level; locally, however, another denial
Oregon’s weed industry has many enemies. From the Drug Enforcement Agency, to the U.S. Justice Department, to local-government hostiles who perpetuate reefer-madness myths, to an endless parade of complicated regulations and taxes; it’s a scary world out there for pot proprietors. But the biggest enemy may be a result of the sticky icky itself: Oversupply. […]
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Pride and Pot
June is LGBTQ+ Month
June is LGBTQ+ Month—established in homage to the Manhattan-based “Stonewall Riots” in 1969. Fifty years later, it’s grown to address the many concerns facing LGBTQ+ communities, including safety, housing and employment discrimination, and a multitude of other matters that our current dystopian fever-dream administration seems to be adding to on the regular. Cannabis has a […]
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Legislating Morality Through Land Use
County Commission witnesses a festering fissure
After five months of watching his co-Commissioners scour all marijuana land-use and site-plan applications for potential frailties, Deschutes County Commissioner Tony DeBone seems to have had enough. During a June 5 deliberation, the Commission was discussing an appeal of a previously-approved application for a marijuana dispensary in Tumalo. DeBone all but scolded Commissioners Phil Henderson […]
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Social Equity in Cannabis
A positive thing about the implementation of adult use cannabis programs in various states has been assurance that a portion of the cannabis tax/licensing revenue would be allocated for use in specific equity programs. Such programs are designed to address inequities for people of color—from the racist policies that placed the heaviest burden of the enforcement […]