Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Legal pot growers frustrated by illegal operations in Ore.
SALEM, Ore. — 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 valley,” Sickler said. “It is certainly an issue we deal with on a daily basis here.”
The three were among witnesses who testified last 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.
The managers of the sites — which were erected last spring primarily in Jackson and Josephine counties near the California state line — have stolen water from rivers, creeks and aquifers during a severe drought and abused immigrant workers, officials have said.
Many illegal marijuana farms are operating under the guise of being legal hemp farms. Steven Marks, director of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, said that tests conducted at some 400
self-proclaimed hemp sites from July 28 to mid-September showed that most plants had higher amounts of THC, the component that gives cannabis its high, than is legally allowed for hemp.
“So the upshot is 54% of all the tests we successfully conducted were positive and presumptive for marijuana,” Marks said.
Managers of 73 sites told state inspectors to go away, and barred access. Many sites are guarded by gunmen.
Sickler described “an explosion of growth” in marijuana farms.
“We don’t have the resources in Jackson County to deal with something like that,” Sickler told the House Interim Committee on Economic Recovery and Prosperity.
There aren’t enough inspectors to test for THC content at each site to determine which are legal and which are not, officials have said. Police said they do not have the capacity to raid all the suspicious sites, with each raid requiring an investigation and warrant.
“First and foremost, we need to allocate significant funding to support law enforcement and code compliance operations,” Rep. Pam Marsh, a Democrat from Ashland in Jackson County, told
the committee. “Jackson County alone has estimated a cost of $7.3 million a year to enable the county to adequately tackle illegal grows. Josephine County is likely to have a similar need.”
Vineyards are also feeling the impact of the illegal pot farms, said Miller, chair of the Oregon Wine Council.
“We are already facing challenges finding enough workers to support our operations, particularly during peak harvest seasons,” Miller said. “The unfair and often illegal labor practices of these illegal operations are compounding that issue by paying workers in cash at significantly higher wages than those of us who ... are adhering to all labor laws.”
With tons of marijuana having been recently harvested and the illicit business largely conducted in cash, gunmen are now preying on the illegal farms and marijuana processing sites.
“Crews from eight different states have come to Jackson County to perform home invasion robberies of marijuana farms or individuals associated with marijuana industry with money,” Sickler said.
The illegal farms produce tons of marijuana that is sold outside the state.