Too Soon For Full Freedom to Grow: Marijuana Speech #19

19 ^th speech in this series to the Josephine County Commissioners, November 10, 2009.    

Another reason you should pass A Resolution Regarding Marijuana, urging the legislature to pass the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act is:

“WHEREAS the marijuana black markets in neighboring states make it unwise for Oregon to immediately recognize the rights of Oregon citizens to freely grow and sell marijuana without license or limits;”

I have stated repeatedly that we all have a right to use any of God’s green herbs, recognized in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  So why would it be unwise to fully recognize this right immediately?

The right to use cannabis was not violated prior to the 20^th Century.  But now we have had over 70 years of Cannabis prohibition, and the development of high black-market prices for it.  Unlike other banned medicines, it can be grown by anyone with basic gardening knowledge.  In the last decade, since Oregon started licensing people to grow medical marijuana, the number of growers with licenses has exploded.

This medical privilege creates a stumbling block for people with ordinary greed, thrift, and love of their neighbors.  The amount of plants that have to be allowed to allow for low yields leaves people with high-yielding plants with much more than they are legally allowed to keep.  They cannot legally sell it, and few can stand to give away or destroy a valuable commodity, so many sell it illegally. 

Since there are so many licensed growers in Oregon, a lot of this surplus gets sent out of state to where prices are high and supplies are low.  So pot smokers in this state who aren’t licensed to grow are finding it harder to find their weed this year.  I hear of growers sending all of their surplus weed out of state and then asking the people who normally would buy from them for more.  So unlike last year, prices have not dropped at harvest. 

The black market in neighboring states therefore makes it problematic for them if we grow and sell as much cannabis as we could.  Even our medical marijuana licensing system creates problems here and in other states, because the medical privilege creates too much opportunity for illicit profit at the expense of those who are not privileged.

If the legislature would pass the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, marijuana would be grown by license for the state to distribute, and grown without license, though with limits, for personal use, exactly the same way we treat alcohol.  Fewer and larger licensed growers would be easier to control; home growing would allow all adults to get their share.

There will still be a problem with pot being sent out of state; there will be as long as a black market exists elsewhere.  Therefore, we must urge other states to follow our lead.

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener         541-955-9040         rycke@gardener.com