By AMY T. MARGOLIS
Since Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Department of Justice has rescinded the protections offered to cannabis businesses through the Cole Memorandum, the Oregon cannabis industry has been left to wonder what would happen in our state regarding federal enforcement. While our elected officials, from the local level all the way through to Gov. Kate Brown, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, have aggressively said that they will fight for the the will of the Oregon voters, we have seen a series of statements from Billy J. Williams, the U.S. Attorney for Oregon, that have caused increasing concern.
In the most recent statement, Williams suggests that Oregon's cannabis industry faces a series of existential problems from oversupply to concerns around public health and safety that may require additional law enforcement action, ("U.S. Attorney: A call for transparency and action on marijuana," Jan. 12).
The Oregon Cannabis Association stands by the strength of our regulated market and the myriad small businesses that make up our cannabis industry. We have always taken the position that a well-regulated market, with checks and balances, appropriate enforcement and consequences is crucial to the success of the industry and its survival. We fervently support education to prevent youth access, strong pesticide testing regulations and we have worked diligently with state and local government to ensure that our laws prevent the illegal market from thriving and that communities remain livable.
In this way, we share some of the same goals with the U.S. Attorney, particularly as they relate to keeping cannabis out of the hands of children and in strict compliance with state law.
Where we differ is that we believe Oregon's legalized cannabis program is a success, even when it is not perfect. More than 19,000 new jobs have been created. More than $131.4 million worth of tax revenue has been generated since 2014 to fund schools, mental health services and alcohol and drug treatment.
In Washington, Colorado and Oregon, all states with a legalized market, both violent crime and property crime rates have dropped post-legalization, and marijuana arrests in Oregon have decreased from 15 percent to 4 percent of all drug-related arrests, according to a December 2016 Oregon Health Authority report on marijuana use and health effects.
In Colorado, new results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health show that the percentage of youth using marijuana in the month prior to the survey has declined from 11 percent in 2014-2015 to 9 percent in 2015-2016.
While this system still needs works, like any brand new industry, the answer is not more arrests and prosecutions, especially of those who are actively working to be compliant in the regulated market. The answer is that the industry needs to, and will, continue to work collaboratively with state and local officials, the OLCC, and Williams, if he is willing, to create the strongest and most vibrant legal and compliant market possible.
The voters of Oregon spoke clearly when they voted for cannabis legalization that they not only wanted to see marijuana taxed and regulated, they wanted to see the drug war end. Oregon has much more serious problems for law enforcement to spend their resources on than a reignition of cannabis arrests and prosecutions.
Amy T. Margolis is executive director of the Oregon Cannabis Association. She authored this guest opinion on behalf of the board of the Oregon Cannabis Association.