Pubdate: Sun, 12 Apr 2015 Source: Bulletin, The (Bend, OR) Copyright: 2015 Western Communications Inc. Contact: http://www.bendbulletin.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/62 Author: Beau Eastes IN REDMOND, POT GROWS NEAR PRESCHOOL Medical marijuana grow sites face little oversight REDMOND - The city of Redmond has been as proactive as possible in preparing for life after July 1, the date when recreational marijuana use in Oregon becomes legal. Priding itself as one of the most family-friendly communities in Central Oregon, Redmond's current land use and business licensing codes prohibit businesses that violate any state or federal law. That language closes the door on the possibility of any medical marijuana dispensary, recreational pot shop, or grow operation hoping to open for business in Redmond. Those codes, though, have no jurisdiction over a medical marijuana grow operation located less than 100 feet from a Head Start preschool near the Redmond Airport. Brent Goodman has been growing medical marijuana in an industrial warehouse just north of McKim Head Start since late 2010, Redmond Development Director Heather Richards confirmed last week. Goodman declined to comment for this story. The locations of such growing operations are kept confidential by law, but Goodman's business on a slight bluff overlooking the preschool has become common knowledge because of the odor the marijuana plants put off. On windy spring days, a distinct marijuana smell permeates the McKim preschool playground. Parents who first noticed the odor were concerned someone working at their child's preschool was smoking weed. "It (smells like marijuana on the playground) when the wind is just right and it's a very rare occasion," said Scott Cooper, the executive director of NeighborImpact, which runs McKim and other Central Oregon Head Start programs. "But when it does, it emits a foul odor." Head Start officials contacted the Redmond City Council in 2012 about the problem and Richards said she worked with Goodman to control the smell. According to both Richards and Cooper, Goodman was helpful and proactive in finding a solution to the odor. "We (Goodman and the city) worked with building officials and he installed a more intense ventilation system," Richards said. "We haven't heard anything since then." Goodman's warehouse operation highlights the challenges associated with the largely unregulated world of medical marijuana growing. Because of its nonprofit status - all Oregon medical marijuana grow operations are nonprofits - Goodman did not have to apply for a Redmond business license for his company, De Amsterdam, when he first began growing. The city amended its code in 2013, mandating that all businesses, including nonprofits, obtain a business license. But because Goodman opened shop before then, he is grandfathered in under the old code. "The fact is, (medical) growing operations are not regulated by the state at all," Richards said. "Because of that, there is no way to regulate them outside of business licenses and development code." Redmond and other Oregon cities are closely watching Cave Junction's battle with the state over its decision to ban medical marijuana dispensaries. Cave Junction sued the state last May, arguing the sale of medical marijuana at dispensaries violates the Oregon and U.S. constitutions. At the heart of the fight is whether cities have the right to "home rule" because the recent dispensary law allegedly lacks specific language that enables it to preempt local city laws and codes. The lawsuit also argues that federal law preempts state law, therefore the city does not have to allow medical marijuana dispensaries. Josephine County Circuit Judge Pat Wolke ruled in favor of Cave Junction and its ban in October, but the state appealed the ruling in November. A final ruling in Cave Junction's favor would likely clear the way for other like-minded Oregon cities to enact outright bans on dispensaries and/or grow operations without the fear of lawsuits. "Right now, the city's trying to figure out the best path to navigate," Richards said. "It's a very confusing path. We're trying to choose the way with the least amount of risk for our community." Under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, growers are allowed to grow as many as six mature plants and 18 seedlings or starts per patient they are serving. Medical marijuana growers do not have to report how many plants they are growing and have no limit on the number of patients they can grow for. "Six plants per patient is a ton of marijuana," said Oregon state Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland. "Growers give to their patients, they give what they can to dispensaries and then there's a whole bunch left over." In January, the Oregon Health Authority released information to The Oregonian about the state's large-scale grow operations - sites that serve 11 or more patients. Two grow sites were listed within Redmond's 97756 area code, operations that, combined, served 43 medical marijuana patients in 2014. Those numbers were up from 2012, when only one large-scale grow site that served 17 patients was located within the 97756 boundary. Based on the Heath Authority's data, as many as 258 mature marijuana plants could be legally growing in the 97756 zip code at any one time between the two large-scale growers and a whopping 774 seedlings, which are plants that are less than 12 inches tall and 12 inches wide that have no buds on them yet. "The law was a well-intentioned effort to have people too sick to grow or people not in a position to be growers," Burdick said about the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, a voter-approved ballot measure that passed in 1998. "But now we're hearing reports of growers paying patients for their cards, of growers recruiting patients, and medical offices making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year issuing marijuana cards in the thousands. =C2=85 A lot of figures are being throw n around, but what no one is disputing is that a good chunk of Oregon's medical marijuana is ending up on the black market." The only regulations for medical marijuana growers are that they be at least 18 years old and that they have not been convicted of a Class A or B felony for the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance within the last five years or have two such convictions since 2006. In 2005, Goodman pleaded guilty to attempted tampering with drug records, a misdemeanor, which does not disqualify him from growing. With the passage of Measure 91, which legalizes recreational marijuana use in the state, Burdick and other state lawmakers are hoping to better regulate Oregon's medical marijuana growers. "You're going to have to provide some form of tracking in order to be a (medical) grower," said Burdick, who also hopes to limit the amount of plants medical growers can grow, somewhere between 24 and 48 plants. "Track what you produce and indicate where it goes in an effort to snuff out the illegal market. "A lot of medical growers don't like this system and they want to come out of the dark and do things legally." Large-scale medical growers could become recreational growers if they don't like the plant limit, Burdick added. "We're not talking about grandfathering anyone in (under the old rules)," Burdick said. "Anyone with a large grow site can go get an OLCC permit and participate in the recreational market." A switch from medical to recreational would not be an option for growers in Redmond, though, because of the city's codes prohibiting businesses from violating federal law. "What we're trying to do is provide the framework to let an emerging industry be successful," Burdick said about recreational marijuana use in the state, which becomes legal on July 1. "Especially as more places in the country move to legalize. "Oregon's very, very good at growing marijuana," she added. "That much we know." - ----------------------------- [sidebar] Compiled from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's marijuana website. For frequently asked questions, visit www.oregon.gov/olcc/mariju ana About Measure 91 Measure 91 will allow for the personal use and possession of recreational marijuana under Oregon law (for those age 21 and older). It gives the Oregon Liquor Control Commission the authority to tax, license and regulate recreational marijuana. Personal use, general rules * Beginning July 1, recreational marijuana users can possess up to 8 ounces of marijuana and four plants per residence in Oregon. An individual can carry up to 1 ounce in public and can begin growing at home. * Pot cannot be taken across state lines. * Measure 91 does not affect existing landlord-tenant laws. Marijuana in public places * When recreational marijuana becomes legal in Oregon, use of pot in public will still be prohibited. * A medical marijuana dispensary must be located in a commercial, industrial or mixed-use area. Under state law, it cannot be located within 1,000 feet of a school. Marijuana in the workplace * Measure 91, the recreational pot law, does not impact employment law in Oregon. Licensing (Many licensing rules have yet to be defined) * Measure 91 requires the OLCC to begin accepting applications for licenses by Jan. 4, 2016. It establishes an annual license fee of $1,000 plus a nonrefundable $250 application fee per license application. * Measure 91 calls for four license types - producer, processor, wholesaler and retail. * Marijuana growers will need a producer's license and pay taxes of $35 per ounce for flower, $10 per ounce for leaves and $5 per immature plant. * Businesses that transform raw marijuana into another product or extract and package and label it will need an OLCC processor's license. * Businesses that buy bulk marijuana for sale to retailers will need a wholesaler's license. * Those selling directly to consumers will need a retailer's license. * Measure 91 states that local governments may not prohibit licenses in their jurisdiction except through a general election. However, it allows local governments to regulate the time, place and manner of a public nuisance. Revenue * Supporters of Measure 91 estimated in the voters pamphlet that when fully implemented revenues would range from $17 million to $40 million annually. * The measure calls for the following distribution of revenue: 40 percent to the Common School Fund. 20 percent to Mental Health Alcoholism and Drug Services. 15 percent to the Oregon State Police. 10 percent to cities for enforcement. 10 percent to counties for enforcement. 5 percent to the Oregon Health Authority for alcohol and drug abuse prevention. Source: Oregon Liquor Control Commission website - --- MAP posted-by: Matt