[PDX Dopesmoker]

Originally Posted by OregonBorn

I dunno who supplies rec shops with CBD any more. I went all around PDX looking for pure CBD hemp bud or pure CBD oil. NO ONE had any of that stuff. They all said that they used to have it. No longer after they flipped to rec from med. They all had 50/50 THC/CBD strains like Harlequin and AC/DC. One shop had some CBD oil that was insanely priced. It was hemp oil, but did not have any CBD listed in it. I gave up looking and ordered some through an outfit in Colorado. Pure CBD crystals. Tested at 99% pure CBD. It was like $20 shipped.

It looks like Oregon law has changed to making hemp an ag product. Seeds and all. As it should be. Dunno what the FEDs and Sessions will say about it. Its still Cannabis.

I found 99% CBD crystal from hemp for sale at headshops in Portland, the Mellow Mood across the street from the former Third Eye location had it for $36/g. Sounds like you're getting a better deal through the mail.

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Originally Posted by OregonBorn

…You also have to have a security system, a perimeter wall or fence, a camera surveillance system, Metrc training, an armed security response system, a secure area for storing harvested weed that is being tested, approved bags and labels, approved vehicles for transport, a background check, proof of inventor capital, a marijuana handling card for all employees, OSHA approved facilities, Oregon state employee systems in place for payroll taxes, deductions, and insurance, etc etc etc etc.

Thats an expensive sounding list

As an aside, I got a letter from my auto insurance company about a month ago that my insurance does not cover vehicles used for transporting commercial marijuana in the state of Oregon. Go figure.

I supposed they could be accused of violating federal banking/laundering regulations if they insure marijuana vehicles.

[OregonBorn]

Originally Posted by PDX Dopesmoker

Thats an expensive sounding list

It is an expensive process. There is a very long list of requirements to get a weed license of any kind in Oregon. I did not list them all here. I bet that after this ODA Hemp license process is implemented, the hemp licenses will not be cheap or easy to get either. We will see after the ODA gets through making all the rules.

Originally Posted by PDX Dopesmoker

I supposed they could be accused of violating federal banking/laundering regulations if they insure marijuana vehicles.

Insurance is separate from banking. They did not say why they will not insure vehicles used for Mj transfers. I do not know who offers insurance on Mj transfer vehicles either. I am with Progressive. They are one of the largest. Maybe you need commercial insurance? And likely at a higher rate. Another hidden cost to add to the long list for growers. I would bet that they do not want to expose themselves to any liable suits based on Mj transfers. Also the issue of being a high value target for potential theft and robbery. Its still a cash only business and weed thieves abound. I imagine property insurance would also increase substantially. I had not even considered that. Even with all the required security stuff.

[PDX Dopesmoker]

Yeah its too bad they make everything an expensive hassle, makes it completely unfun. Leave it to government to take all the fun out of recreational drugs. Here I am stoned off my ass being upset because none of that regulation is even necessary now that the Cole agreement has been revoked and the tremendous expense to state government for the enforcement may even be illegal under measure 91.
Thats not what I should be doing with my chinese eyes time, I should be laughing at psychedelic cartoons or something more appropriate to the situation than paying attention to dystopian buzzkill. Sad state of affairs indeed.

[OregonBorn]

Meh. I started growing weed in 1972. I am still growing weed today. As long as local and state law enforcement is not after growers of small numbers of plants, I do not really care what the FEDs threaten to do. I do not buy weed, so I am not filling the state coffers with weed tax money. Nor will I be impacted if Sessions raids weed shops and grow farms. I can grow more than I can smoke, so all the political sabre rattling is a non issue for me.

I preferred the good old days of black market weed in the 1970s/1980s. Then the legal medical weed scene was good too in CA and OR, but that has all ended with legal rec weed. Hopefully VA, TN and KY will legalize medical Mj, and maybe MO and even UT for extreme medical cases. Then the number of states that have legal medical or rec weed will rise to 34 from 29 and that is enough for a majority to pass a constitutional amendment lifting Cannabis prohibition.

[Robrites]

March 22, 2018 – The Commissioners of Josephine County Oregon, with advice from the county counsel Wally Hicks, have decided to make a desperate move to stop cannabis grows on Rural Residential lands in their county by appealing directly to the federal government to intervene. The move is part of a mufti-faceted and aggressive response to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) decision earlier this month.
The Commissioners announced their intention after a closed door meeting on Tuesday, March 20. Their plan is to appeal the LUBA decision, Adopt land use rules that mirror neighboring Jackson County and, most alarmingly, seek a federal declaratory judgment using the Controlled Substances Act. The Grants Pass Daily Courier reports:
“The most startling move is the commissioners’ intention to seek a “federal declaratory judgment” involving the federal Controlled Substances Act, although details about those arguments have not been made public. Possession of marijuana is deemed a federal crime.
County Legal Counsel Wally Hicks said details about the move in federal court will be forthcoming.
In addition, the county intends to appeal in state court a decision last week by the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals.”
This desperate move was brought about when the county was blocked by LUBA, putting a hold on any enforcement by the county regarding their new ordinance passed in late 2017. The county has argued that the cannabis farming is a nuisance, which is driven by complaints about grows in Rural Residential areas and black market diversion issues. Unfortunately for the county, LUBA decision found they did not follow the proper rules and procedures on the land use changes. KOBI reported:
“Back in December, a group of farmers, who called themselves F.A.R.M.S Inc, also known as ‘Farming and Agricultural Rights Management Society’ appealed the county commissioner’s ordinance, which at the time stated, marijuana in rural residential zones would be prohibited on a lot of five acres or less with the exception of 12 personal mature plants.
[March 14], LUBA granted the group’s motion stating the county failed to notify residents by mail, and did not comply with procedural requirements.”
The move to mirror the Jackson County ordinance would be less restrictive than the Josephine County ordinance. Jackson county’s actually allowed existing grows to remain on rural residential property. That was actually acceptable to the F.A.R.M.S Inc. contingent.
“I hope that’s what they do,” Ross Day, the attorney for the group told the daily Courier. “The (Jackson County) ordinance is actually not a bad ordinance. All it really does, it says you can’t grow on rural residential land.”
The Commissioners overreaction to try and involve the federal government sends a loud signal to cannabis hater Attorney General Jeff Sessions. With his recension of the Cole Memo and recent statements about enforcement, including the use of property seizure, their move could be reckless and even dangerous.
If the federal intervention occurs and farms are raided, they will all be medical marijuana grows, which will impact patients and access to their medicine. Would these raids be offered the protection of the Rorahbacher-Blumenhaur amendment, which prohibits the use of federal money to arrest or prosecute federal marijuana laws if the operations fall under a states medical marijuana laws? Could we see a return to the days of federal raids on medical grows in Oregon like we saw just a few years ago?
Lets hope not, and hope there can be some common sense coming from the reactionary, over-reaching and dangerous county leaders. Attacking the economic engine that has been driving one of the poorest counties in Oregon seems myopic and ignorant.


https://www.occnewspaper.com/josephi...rijuana-grows/

[frostqueen]

Originally Posted by Robrites

Attacking the economic engine that has been driving one of the poorest counties in Oregon seems myopic and ignorant.

You have no idea. I grew up in Josephine County. Full of pious righteous religious extremists and systemic idiocy. In Grants Pass the city council meetings start by everyone circling up for prayer. They are just dying to stamp out thee devill's weede. Ironically this area is the tip of the famous green triangle, where in the late '70s and early '80s much of today's best cannabis was originally bred and grown.

Meanwhile a few years back they couldn't even afford to have a police department for an area with about 30,000 people. Not the lord's brightest folks, to use their own terminology.

[Robrites]

On March 22, 2018, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission took the following rulemaking actions: INITIAL ACTION Harvest Notification (adopt 845-025-2090) Staff has identified harvest as an opportunity for diversion and is seeking to adopt a notification requirement for outdoor growers. This would require outdoor growers to notify the Commission of five harvest dates 72-hours before the first planned harvest date. This notification will allow enforcement staff ample opportunity to monitor harvests and ensure compliance with pertinent laws and rules.The Commission initiated rulemaking on the proposed adoption of 845-025-2090. Staff will hold an advisory committee, a public hearing and a subsequent comment period on this issue.

[OregonBorn]

Originally Posted by Robrites

On March 22, 2018, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission took the following rulemaking actions: INITIAL ACTION Harvest Notification (adopt 845-025-2090) Staff has identified harvest as an opportunity for diversion and is seeking to adopt a notification requirement for outdoor growers. This would require outdoor growers to notify the Commission of five harvest dates 72-hours before the first planned harvest date. This notification will allow enforcement staff ample opportunity to monitor harvests and ensure compliance with pertinent laws and rules.The Commission initiated rulemaking on the proposed adoption of 845-025-2090. Staff will hold an advisory committee, a public hearing and a subsequent comment period on this issue.

It is insane the amount of crap that the OLCC is requiring growers to do now.

[OregonBorn]

And meanwhile, Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell put forth a US Senate bill today making hemp legal in the US again. Of course Oregon will add 9,000 requirements to grow it here. Note also: In federal spending legislation enacted last week, Congress extended a policy that prevents the DOJ from interfering with state medical cannabis laws.


The head of the U.S. Senate announced on Monday that he will soon be filing a bill to legalize industrial hemp and allocate federal money for cultivation of the crop.

"We all are so optimistic that industrial hemp can become sometime in the future what tobacco was in Kentucky's past," U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said at a press conference alongside the state's agriculture commissioner.

"I will be introducing when I go back to senate a week from today," he said, legislation to "finally legalize hemp as an agricultural commodity and remove it from the list of controlled substances.

McConnell has already successfully attached language to broader legislation, such as the 2014 Farm Bill and annual spending packages, that shields state industrial hemp research programs from federal interference.

But confusion over what counts as research as well as issues related to the interstate transportation of hemp seeds has caused confusion as the DEA has in some cases sought to enforce federal laws that do not distinguish between hemp and marijuana.

A press release from McConnell's office said the new bill will not only reclassify hemp under federal law, but "will also give hemp researchers the chance to apply for competitive federal grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture – allowing them to continue their impressive work with the support of federal research dollars."

At the event, McConnell said that "some challenges remain today between the federal government and farmers and producers in Kentucky," arguing that his new bipartisan legislation would "remove the roadblocks altogether" by "recognizing in federal statute the difference between hemp and its illicit cousin."
He added that he would soon be discussing the issue with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, an longtime vocal opponent of cannabis law reform who this year rescinded Obama-era guidance that has generally allowed state to implement their own marijuana legalization laws without federal interference.

In federal spending legislation enacted last week, Congress extended a policy that prevents the Justice Department from interfering with state medical cannabis laws. The bill also extends two provisions that protect state industrial hemp research programs.

Hemp can be used to make food, clothing and many other consumer goods. McConnell, in the Monday speech, spoke about "interesting and innovative products" that are "made with Kentucky-grown hemp," such as home insulation.
"That's just one of many uses Kentuckians are finding for this versatile crop," he said.

While hemp products are legal to sell in the U.S., its cultivation is banned outside of the limited exemption for state research programs, so manufacturers must in many cases import the raw materials from other countries that do no prohibit hemp farming.
McConnell was an original cosponsor of a standalone hemp bill during the 114th Congress, but it did not receive a hearing or a vote. Last year he signed onto a nonbinding resolution approved by the Senate in recognition of Hemp History week.

"Industrial hemp holds great potential to bolster the agricultural economy of the United States," the measure declared.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) will be an original cosponsor of the new bill to be introduced next month, along with a bipartisan group of other senators.