Legalizing hemp and marijuana in some states but not others has had a number of difficult, and often dangerous, unexpected consequences.
First, the plants of hemp and marijuana look the same and you can’t tell the difference without testing. Hemp, which is said to be used for CBD oils, is in significant oversupply in southern Oregon and there are tons of deposits that cannot be sold. But marijuana is extremely profitable as there are only 22 states where it is completely legal and the public desire for this somewhat harmless recreational drug seems to know no bounds.
Here in southern Oregon, we have ideal weather conditions for growing hemp and marijuana, and both are legal, except that commercial marijuana requires permits and other restrictions. Consequently, there are now hundreds of marijuana / hemp crops; some small and many large, with no legality in mind. Many are highly professional and run by overseas cartels, many of which are trafficking in human beings and the use of illegal pesticides, as reported in the Mail Tribune on Sept. 3.
There is also a significant tax loss for state and federal agencies. Marijuana is considered a controlled substance by the federal government, so banks won’t hold the cash or provide bank accounts to write checks on. Hence, the money used to pay the workers must be in cash and there is no paper trail taxing the payroll or profit slip. Hemp is no longer classified as a controlled substance, but banks are still suspicious of doing business with the industry and either won’t or will charge exorbitant fees. Who knows how many owners and workers there are in these industries who like to take cash and not pay taxes?
Inadvertently, these industries have created a really serious shortage of agricultural labor. Marijuana and food crops are harvested at the same time. There is obviously a great incentive for a worker to be paid cash, and because of the huge profits made from selling marijuana, this industry has a choice of workers and can pay these workers substantial wages. Due to higher cash wages, this has created a huge labor shortage in the local fruit and vegetable farming industry, which operates by the usual standards of check payment and tax filing. I know a farmer who had to rot his fields of organic vegetables when he couldn’t find workers to harvest them.
And there is the stealing of water by water truck companies wherever it can be obtained and the drilling of wells to get water from the ground, which is also not allowed for agriculture in southern Oregon. And all of this in the driest year in recent history.
Landowners who have vacant land that they lease to illegal marijuana growers and cartels are also at risk. Because of the huge profits in this industry, people who want to lease land can offer outrageous prices per hectare, making it difficult for ordinary farmers to compete in leasing land to grow food. But anyone who knowingly leases land to an illegal farmer makes the landowner liable and can face legal problems.
We definitely need uniform federal regulation of this industry, which is the same for every state.
This patchwork of legal and illegal is causing chaos, especially here in southern Oregon. Marijuana is a fairly harmless recreational drug, but the laws related to it have created serious problems across the county, adding lawlessness and danger to many people.
A unified system would also detract from the industry’s enormous profits, which encourage the entry of cartels and other criminal elements into this business. Let’s legalize marijuana nationally and deal with all of these problems.
Traute Moore owns Quail Run Vineyards and South Stage Cellars.
source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/12/patchwork-of-laws-hurts-cannabis-growers-other-farmers-medford-news-weather-sports-breaking-news/
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