All states delight in celebrating achievements and attributes that can be described by superlatives — the longest coastline, the deepest canyon, even the biggest ball of twine.
But being known as “the largest black market source of” anything is not a good label to have. And that’s the position Oregon finds itself in.
Oregon-grown cannabis is trafficked to distribution hubs across the Southeastern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States, OSP said, with Illinois, Minnesota, New York and Florida being prime targets.
Based on publicly available data on grow and consumption rates, OSP calculates that Oregonians consume 186,100 to 372,600 pounds of cannabis annually.
That leaves somewhere between 265,200 and 1.8 million pounds to find a market elsewhere.
Some of this massive surplus is due to what OSP says are pervasive illegal grows that have sprung up within the state, many of which don’t follow environmental regulations, don’t pay taxes and create headaches for law enforcement.
Portland, Eugene, Medford and Grants Pass are the most connected to these destinations in other states.
This growing black market trade is not good for a lot of reasons. By operating outside the law it is undermining growers who are operating legally — including following sound environmental practices and paying their taxes.
It is also robbing the state, and Oregon taxpayers, of tax money and making it more difficult to regulate the market and protect against criminal incursions into the marijuana trade.
But beyond all that, it brands Oregon as a scofflaw, a center of illegal activity that it is unable or unwilling to deal with, and the source of problems for other states that are the recipients of the black market marijuana.
Until Oregon gets this problem under control, black-market marijuana will continue to be used as a club against the state by people such as U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and as an excuse to dismiss complaints or requests from the state on this, and potentially other, topics.
Oregon needs to get a handle on the extent of the illegal cannabis activity, including who is involved in it, where, and in what way. It needs to step up enforcement against illegal activity and maintain data so that it can gauge how effective different efforts to control it are and where resources need to be concentrated.
Oregonians voted in 2014 to allow legal cultivation, sale and use of marijuana within the state. They did not vote to make Oregon a national center for black market marijuana.
credit:registerguard.com