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| Forest in Oregon |
Growing up in a small logging town in
Oregon in the 70's, I grew up with an appreciation for nature and an
understanding of a dark underworld. With rivers, lakes, trails and
mountains at my footsteps, I also was continually made aware of
danger of going off trail or not trespassing on property.
Logging was the biggest cash crop on
the books for our region, but everyone knew cannabis far outdid
logging as a cash crop off the books. The citizens that lived
outside the city tightly held onto their constitutional rights on
property rights, right to bear arms and simply being left alone. A
simple pull into the driveway to turn around often was met with the
owner and a rifle watching your every move. My father who worked in
the national forests in our area left with a pistol on those trips,
he told us it was in case he came upon a surprise farm with booby
traps.
Oregon is anticipating legalizing
marijuana by 2016 and bringing the cultivation out of the black
market and into a full legal industry. Colorado that went legal this
year has shown to still have illegal marijuana plantations hidden the
the forests, grown for an illegal distribution in neighboring states.
Brian Vincente, co founder of the campaign to legalize marijuana in
Colorado stated “I think the black market is already on its way
out,” says Vicente. “This is all a process and until our country
legalizes marijuana there is always going to be some incentive for
people to bring marijuana from Colorado to, say, Nebraska. There were
bootleggers after prohibition ended, for a little while, but not for
long.”
This is from an anonymous writer
contributing to OUTCO who grew up witnessing the black
market of marijuana in Oregon in the 1970's.
Source for continuing black market in
Colorado:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/23/colorado-unregulated-marijuana-green-rush
