JOSEPHINE CO., Ore. – A monster drug bust Wednesday is making headlines across the Rogue Valley and beyond. One day after a huge 30,000 plant illegal marijuana bust in Josephine Co. local officials are hoping it’s only the beginning. But in a region flooded with legal and illegal marijuana grows it may just be a drop in the bucket. Fixing the issue isn’t easy either.
On one side, some people believe more enforcement is the solution. While on the other hand, some people believe the restrictions are too limited.
“There’s a lot of issues relating to this industry that we can do better,” said State Rep. Lily Morgan.
Former Josephine County Commissioner Lily Morgan is now a State Rep. in Salem
She’s helped introduce several bills to better fund law enforcement, specifically to curb illegal marijuana grows in the state.
“So we can protect the legal industries that are existing and hold accountable that is literally destroying our way of life,” said State Rep. Lily Morgan
A couple of bills are tied to hemp, another would transfer oversight and regulation of medical marijuana processing sites and dispensaries from the OHA to the OLCC. All are still in the house. But not everyone agrees on more regulations.
“I think making it more restrictive is gonna cause more problems,” said Peter Gendron.
Gendron’s a longtime cannabis activist and President of Omnibudsman Enterprises. He said the regulations are too limiting. He told NBC5 News that there is so much illegal cannabis because people can’t comply with the number of regulations. If things were simpler more people would go about it the right way. For example, he said he has clients that have been waiting on an OLCC license for 3 years now.
While the right answer isn’t easy to define, what is clear is that legal and illegal marijuana isn’t going to go away anytime soon.
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