I'll weigh in not as a grower but as a native Oregonian that loves my state.
These criminal illegal grows are a blight on the industry. They're talking about using the National Guard to assist local law enforcement and I am all for that.
Some people are taking the side of these criminals and have "Fuck the man" attitude. It's not about fucking the man. It's about violent criminal organizations using Oregon land to grow cannabis to sell on the black market. This negatively impacts all those legal growers that went through the proper process and have done everything right.
These illegal grows are extremely bad for the environment. They leave behind tons of trash, divert creeks and streams for water having an adverse effect on wildlife. They use toxic chemicals as pesticides because they don't go through the same testing requirements as legal growers. They answer to nobody and ship their pesticide laden weed to wherever they can sell it.
These grows are not some down on their luck farmers just trying to survive. These are set up by the same criminal organizations responsible for flooding our streets with fentanyl. They have no concern for anything except their profits. They smuggle illegal workers across the border to work on these illegal grows and treat them like slaves leaving them to exist in squalid conditions without running water or basic necessities. Many are left unpaid after the harvest and stuck away from home without any resources. It's reminiscent of the nasty migrant work camps that used to exist all across the state until the late 70's and early 80's when the "Man" stepped in and forced farmers to provide decent living conditions for their workers.
They need to take a scorched earth approach to eliminating these illegal grows. I'd volunteer to help for free if it was possible to do so.
"Kathy Keesee works with the farmworker advocacy group Unete. She said migrant laborers who lost farm jobs because of the drought turned to illegal cannabis grows. Many experienced threats of violence and wage theft."
“That if you come bother us for your money, we’re going to go harm your families in Mexico or Guatemala or wherever the families are living,” Keesee said. “We’re also seeing field bosses threatening people, like holding guns to their heads, sexual harassment with women, threatening rape and things like that.”
A community forum on Tuesday night focusing on illegal cannabis cultivation in Southern Oregon detailed a litany of abuses as local and state agencies try to reign in illegal operations.
www.opb.org
Many of the illegal pot grows in Klamath County have been linked to national and international criminal organizations.
www.kgw.com
While many growers are doing business legally, the size and scale of some illegal operations has overwhelmed local authorities' ability to respond. One county, near the California border, has even declared a state of emergency.
www.pressherald.com
KERBY, Ore. — The death of a man dropped off at the Chevron in Cave Junction earlier this month led the Josephine County Sheriff's Office to investigate a massive illegal
www.kdrv.com
www.yahoo.com
