White City, Ore. — Wayne Zallen with Grow Condos in White City offers a place for growers to house their plants.
While he isn’t thrilled to hear about the U.S. Attorney General rescinding federal marijuana guidance, he thinks the marijuana industry will continue to stay strong.
“Well I guess I wasn’t surprised. But I also don’t think it will make a very big affect on the industry,” Zallen said.
Wayne Zallen is the CEO of Grow Condos.
While his business doesn’t directly touch marijuana, he creates the infrastructure for growers giving them a place to house their plants.
“These plants are at the end of their life cycle,” Zallen said.
As soon as Zallen found out U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions would be rescinding the federal marijuana policy, he took a glance at cannabis stocks.
“Almost every one of them that I looked at was down considerably,” Zallen said.
But even though stocks may be down, he’s not concerned about the marijuana industry.
“The state of Oregon as well as the other legalized states are not going to let this tax money disappear,” Zallen said.
According to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, the state collected more than $60 million in state taxes from the marijuana industry in 2017.
Zallen thinks that revenue will continue and he believes the federal government will focus on illegal grows.
“They are doing their job when people aren’t conforming to the state laws that they need to conform to and I think they should be doing that,” Zallen said.
And even if the federal government decides to severely crack down on the industry, Zallen is confident state leaders will do everything possible to keep the marijuana market safe and prosperous.
“Yes, I guess now the feds have the ability to come at us, but I think our states will protect us,” Zallen said.
Governor Kate Brown says voters in Oregon chose to legalize the sale of marijuana, and she says the federal government shouldn’t stand in the way of the will of Oregonians.
Meanwhile, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum says she will do everything within her legal authority to protect the cannabis industry.
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