Pubdate: Sun, 15 May 2016
Source: Mail Tribune, The (Medford, OR)
Copyright: 2016 The Mail Tribune
Contact:  http://www.mailtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/642
Note: Only prints LTEs from within it's circulation area, 200 word count limit
Author: Ken Chapman
Note: Ken Chapman has lived in the Applegate Valley for 45 years.

THE NEW YEAR'S MIRACLE OF 2015

For the past 10 to 15 years, every time a medical marijuana grower 
was raided, a spokesperson for the marijuana lobby would get in front 
of a camera or give a statement to a reporter saying words to the 
effect of "patients will suffer," or "where will my patients get 
their medicine?" The message discipline of the lobby was and 
continues to be highly effective. How could any caring person deny a 
patient their medicine?

So, it was nothing short of miraculous on Jan. 1, 2015, when personal 
possession of marijuana became legal, that suddenly enough marijuana 
became available for massive free marijuana giveaways in several 
locations throughout the valley.

Where did that marijuana come from? It hadn't been legal to grow for 
any reason other than medical use and, according to the marijuana 
lobby, any single bust put patients at risk. Growers were supposedly 
only growing a limited amount of marijuana for specific patients. 
Either this was a miracle of biblical proportions (think loaves and 
fishes), or it was exhibit A as to why the public should have little 
or no confidence in the veracity of the medical marijuana industry.

The reason the medical marijuana industry's credibility and behavior 
is relevant is that a lawsuit has been initiated by the industry 
after Jackson County moved to halt the conversion of rural 
residential property to intensive marijuana growing. Such intensive 
practices include intensely bright growing lights, exhaust fans and 
smelly plants growing close to property lines .

According to an article in the Mail Tribune, a spokesperson for the 
medical marijuana industry complained that the proposed regulations 
would prohibit the operations of "6,000 growers." This was hyperbole 
of the highest order, and that is using the polite term.

In effect, the medical marijuana industry is trying to destroy the 
land-use planning that has helped protect farm land from development, 
provided areas where retail and commercial activities predominate and 
has designated appropriate areas for residential purposes for the 
past 40 years. If intensive agriculture is allowed to occur in rural 
residential neighborhoods, why not housing developments in a forest 
resource area, or retail stores on a suburban street? Why should 
medical marijuana be a uniquely permitted activity?

Some of us in the marijuana hot spots have seen little credibility in 
the medical marijuana program since shortly after it began. The 
program said that growers could only collect a fee based on the cost 
of utilities and supplies and precluded being compensated for labor 
or profit. The initiative, however, also made sure that there were no 
requirements for paperwork regarding costs, nor were random site 
inspections allowed.

The initiative seemed to promise that growers would have no 
motivation other than altruism - just a bunch of Mother Teresas 
delivering medicine to the needy! What the law delivered was a 
lucrative, tax-free and unregulated business. If you doubt that, you 
should have been at the meetings held by the county, where an 
auditorium packed with medical marijuana growers complained that 
proposed regulations would put them out of "business."

The availability of marijuana over the past four decades became the 
most rational reason for legalization. If it was so easy to obtain, 
why not legalize marijuana and bring it out into the open? Oregon, 
and specifically Jackson County, is awash in marijuana. Reasonable 
regulation to protect residential neighborhoods will not decrease the 
supply, only direct production to areas appropriate for intense 
growing practices.

Medical marijuana undoubtedly has legitimate uses that will expand 
even more with research. Patients should have access to all safe and 
effective medicines. The industry's lack of candor and dismissal of 
the concerns of non-growing rural residents, however, uses patients 
with serious medical problems as a shield to justify essentially 
unlimited growing in areas that have been zoned residential.

So, please, the next time a medical marijuana spokesperson talks 
about how unfair it is to halt further marijuana growing for profit 
in rural residential neighborhoods, remember the New Year's Miracle 
of 2015, and decide for yourself whether you want the medical 
marijuana industry deciding whether rural neighborhoods are primarily 
for residences or for intensive drug production.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom