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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 15 augusT 2017

American Living:

Marijuana states try to curb smuggling, avert US crackdown

By ANDREW SELSKY hid his large cannabis crop
Associated Press from aerial surveillance un-
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — der a forest canopy east
Well before Oregon legal- of Portland, and tended
ized marijuana, its verdant, it when there was barely
wet forests made it an ideal enough light to see.
place for growing the drug, “In those days, marijuana
which often ended up be- was REALLY illegal,” said
ing funneled out of the Taylor, now a licensed
state for big money. Now, marijuana processor and
officials suspect pot grown lobbyist. “If you got caught
legally in Oregon and other growing the amounts we
states is also being smug- were growing, you were
gled out, and the traffick- going to go to prison for a
ing is putting America’s number of years.”
multibillion-dollar marijuana Taylor believes it’s easier to
industry at risk. grow illegally now because
In response, pot-legal authorities lack the resourc-
states are trying to clamp es to sniff out every opera-
down on “diversion” even tion. And growers who sell
as U.S. Attorney General outside the state can earn
Jeff Sessions presses for en- thousands of dollars per
forcement of federal laws pound, he said.
against marijuana. Still, it’s hard to say if pot
Tracking legal weed from smuggling has gotten
the fields and greenhous- worse in Oregon, or how
es where it’s grown to the In this May 15, 2016 photo, Todd Golden displays a sample tag which can be scanned by radio- much of the marijuana
shops where it’s sold under frequency identification devices, on an artificial marijuana plant at the Oregon Liquor Commission leaving the state filters out
names like Blueberry Kush offices in Portland, Ore. Two reports say Oregon is an epicenter of marijuana production, with from the legal side.
cannabis being smuggled across the USA. Oregon and other legalized states are trying to curtail
and Chernobyl is their so far this diversion into the black market, as the federal government considers more aggressive Chris Gibson, executive
main protective measure. enforcement in those states. director of the federally
In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky) funded Oregon-Idaho High
recently signed into law a rent tracking Nov. 1 with who runs Denver-based market” could take years, Intensity Drug Trafficking
requirement that state reg- a “highly secure, reliable, Nationwide Compliance said state Sen. Mike Mc- Area program, said the dis-
ulators track from seed to scalable and flexible sys- Specialists Inc., which helps Guire, who represents the tinction matters less than
store all marijuana grown tem.” tax collectors track elusive, “Emerald Triangle” region the fact that marijuana
for sale in Oregon’s legal California voters approved cash-heavy industries like that’s estimated to pro- continues to leave Oregon
market. So far, only recre- using a tracking system run the marijuana business. duce 60 percent of Ameri- on planes, trains and auto-
ational marijuana has been by Lakeland, Florida-based But the systems aren’t fool- ca’s marijuana. mobiles, and through the
comprehensively tracked. Franwell for its recreational proof. They rely on the us- But he’s confident track- mail.
Tina Kotek, speaker of the pot market. Sales become ers’ honesty, he said. ing will help. “In the first 24 “None is supposed to leave,
Oregon House, said law- legal Jan. 1. “We have seen numer- months, we’re going to so it’s an issue,” Gibson told
makers wanted to ensure Franwell also tracks mari- ous examples of people have a good idea who is in The Associated Press. “That
“we’re protecting the new juana, using bar-code and ‘forgetting’ to tag plants,” the regulated market and should be a primary con-
industry that we’re support- radio frequency identifica- Crabtree said. who is in black market,” cern to state leadership.”
ing here.” tion labels on packaging Colorado’s tracking also McGuire said. Oregon was On a recent morning, Billy
“There was a real recogni- and plants, in Colorado, doesn’t apply to home- the first state to decriminal- Williams, the U.S. attorney in
tion that things could be Oregon, Maryland, Alaska grown plants and many ize personal possession, in Oregon, sat at his desk in his
changing in D.C.,” she said. and Michigan. noncommercial marijuana 1973. It legalized medical office overlooking down-
The Washington State Li- “The tracking system is the caregivers. marijuana in 1998, and rec- town Portland, a draft Or-
quor and Cannabis Board most important tool a state In California, implementing reational use in 2014. egon State Police report in
says it’s replacing its cur- has,” said Adam Crabtree, a “fully operational, legal Before that, Anthony Taylor front of him. q