The Dark Underworld

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