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CapitalPress.com
January 8, 2016
People & Places
Ag chairman staunch defender of farming
Jim Rice, a lawyer,
sees importance of
healthy agricultural
industry in Idaho
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Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell and chairman of the Idaho Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee, has spoken out in defense of Treasure Valley
irrigators in their battle with the state. Rice, an attorney, has earned a reputation as a staunch defender of agriculture.
Western
Innovator
Sen. Jim Rice
Position: Chairman of the Idaho
Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee
Profession: Attorney
Background: Born in Concord, Calif., raised in Southwestern
Idaho
Education: Doctorate in law, William Howard Taft University
Family: Wife, Trish, eight children, seven grandchildren
with agriculture,” he said.
“You don’t need to be doing
a bunch of legislation about
agriculture. In fact, if you
do, you’re probably going to
screw it up.”
The 50-year-old lawyer
was appointed to a Senate
seat in March 2012 by Gov.
Butch Otter. The upcoming
legislative session will be
his fourth full one, and he
has served on the ag com-
mittee every year.
Rice said he welcomed
the chance to chair the ag
committee because “we
need to make sure what we
do from a policy standpoint
doesn’t ... create problems
for agriculture. ... It’s im-
portant to get it right and
keep it right and not get off
into something that’s detri-
mental to agriculture.”
Rice said that if proposed
legislation threatens to harm
agriculture, he’s not afraid to
use the chairman’s power to
make sure it doesn’t go any-
where.
“If something is bad
enough for agriculture that
it needs to be retained in
a drawer, it should be,” he
said. “I think that’s one of
the reasons you want an ag
chair that really believes in
defending agriculture. You
don’t let attacks on agricul-
ture get heard.”
Rice has backed Trea-
sure Valley irrigators in their
battle with the state over
how flood control releases
from Boise River reservoirs
should be accounted for, and
he was also one of the lead-
ing voices in defending the
Idaho Agricultural Security
Act.
Food Producers of Idaho
Executive Assistant Benja-
min Kelly said Rice under-
stands rural issues and has
shown an appreciation for
the challenges private land-
owners face on a daily basis.
“Our farmers and ranch-
ers have always found him
willing to listen to the spe-
cific needs that face agri-
culture as well as act as a
sounding board in matters
that affect the entire state,”
Kelly said.
Emerging from shadows, pot industry tries to build brands
By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press
DENVER — Snoop Dogg
has his own line of marijuana.
So does Willie Nelson. Me-
lissa Etheridge has a marijua-
na-infused wine.
As the fast-growing mari-
juana industry emerges from
the black market and starts
looking like a mainstream
industry, there’s a scramble
to brand and trademark pot
products.
The celebrity endorse-
ments are just the latest at-
tempt to add cachet to a line
of weed. Snoop Dogg calls
his eight strains of weed
“Dank From the Doggfather
Himself.” Nelson’s yet-to-be-
released line says the pot is
“born of the awed memories
of musicians who visited Wil-
lie’s bus after a show.”
The pot industry’s make-
shift branding efforts, from
celebrity names on boxes
of weed to the many weed-
themed T-shirts and stickers
common in towns with a legal
marijuana market, show the
industry taking halting steps
toward the mainstream.
Problem is, those weed
brands aren’t much more sub-
stantial than the labels they’re
printed on. Patents and trade-
marks are largely regulated
by the federal government,
which considers marijuana
an illegal drug and therefore
ineligible for any sort of legal
protection.
The result is a Wild West
environment of marijuana
entrepreneurs trying to stake
AP Photo/David Zalubowski
LivWell store manager Carlyssa Scanlon shows off some of the
products available in the marijuana line marketed by rapper Snoop
Dogg in one of the marijuana chain’s outlets Dec. 18 south of
downtown Denver. LivWell grows the Snoop pot alongside many
other strains on its menu.
claims and establish cross-
state markets using a patch-
work of state laws.
Consumers have no way of
knowing that celebrity-brand-
ed pot is any different than
what they could get in a plas-
tic baggie from a corner drug
dealer.
“You can’t go into federal
court to get federal benefits
if you’re a drug dealer,” said
Sam Kamin, a University of
Denver law professor who
tracks marijuana law.
That doesn’t mean that the
pot business isn’t trying.
Hundreds of marijua-
na-related patents have likely
been requested from the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office,
according to those who work
in the industry. Exact num-
bers aren’t available because
pending patent information
isn’t public.
So far, federal authori-
ties have either ignored or
rejected marijuana patent
and trademark requests, as
in the 2010 case of a Cali-
fornia weed-delivery service
that applied to trademark its
name, “The Canny Bus.”
“They haven’t issued a
single patent yet. But gener-
ally speaking, there is broad
agreement within the patent
law community that they
will,” said Eric Greenbaum,
chief intellectual property of-
ficer for Vireo Health, which
is seeking a patent for a strain
of marijuana to treat seizures.
Companies like Vireo are
betting that if marijuana be-
comes legal nationally, they
will be first in line to claim
legal ownership of whichever
type of marijuana they have
tion Center.
Cropping Systems Conference,
Three Rivers Convention Center,
Kennewick, Wash.
already developed.
Pot companies also are
filing state-level trademarks,
thereby avoiding the snag in
a federal trademark appli-
cation: the requirement that
the mark is used in interstate
commerce, which remains
off-limits for pot companies.
In Colorado, for example,
there are nearly 700 trade
names and 200 trademarks
registered that include the
word “marijuana” or a syn-
onym, Kamin said.
Pot producers also are
claiming everything they can
that doesn’t involve actual
weed. So a marijuana compa-
ny could trademark its logo
or patent a process for pack-
aging something, without
mentioning that the “some-
thing” is marijuana.
The marijuana industry
certainly has been on the re-
ceiving end of legal threats
from other companies that
do have trademark and patent
protection. Cease-and-desist
letters aren’t uncommon in
the mailboxes of marijuana
companies, whether it’s for
making a candy that looks
like a non-intoxicating brand
or for selling a type of pot
that includes a trademarked
word or phrase in its name.
The Girl Scouts of the
U.S.A., for example, says it
has sent dozens of cease-and-
desist letters to those selling
a popular strain of pot known
as Girl Scout Cookies or an-
other called Thin Mints.
“The use of our trade-
marks in connection with
drugs tarnishes the Girl
Scouts name,” the organiza-
tion says in the letter it has
sent to pot sellers primarily
in California, Colorado and
Washington.
Last year, Hershey Co.
sued two marijuana compa-
nies in Colorado and Wash-
ington for selling “Reefer’s”
peanut butter cups and “Dab-
by Patty” candies, which re-
sembled Hershey’s Reese’s
Peanut Butter Cups and York
peppermint patties. Both pot
companies agreed to stop
selling the products and de-
stroy any remaining inven-
tory.
But the industry can’t use
those same laws to protect its
own brands.
“We’re in a new industry,
where the benefits of feder-
al protection aren’t open to
us,” said John Lord, CEO of
LivWell, a 10-store chain of
Colorado marijuana shops
that recently entered an
agreement to sell Leafs By
Snoop, the entertainer’s new
line of marijuana.
LivWell grows the Snoop
pot alongside many oth-
er strains but charges up to
$175 more an ounce for the
rapper’s brand, which is sold
from behind a glittery in-
store display.
“Brand
differentiation
is the normal progression
of events,” said Lord, who
wouldn’t share sales figures
on the Snoop pot but says its
performance has been “out-
standing.”
“Consumers will see more
and more of this in the fu-
ture.”
effect on livestock health.
Thursday, Jan. 21
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Saturday, Jan. 9
American Farm Bureau Annual
Convention, Orlando, Fla., Conven-
tion Center.
Tuesday, Jan. 12
American Farm Bureau Annual
Convention, Orlando, Fla., Conven-
tion Center.
Cropping Systems Conference,
Three Rivers Convention Center,
Kennewick, Wash.
Far West AgriBusiness Associa-
tion annual winter conference, Col-
lege of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls.
Potato Expo 2016, Mirage Hotel
and Casino, Las Vegas, Nev.
Far West AgriBusiness Asso-
ciation annual winter conference,
College of Southern Idaho, Twin
Falls.
Thursday, Jan. 14
American Farm Bureau Annual
Convention, Orlando, Fla., Conven-
tion Center.
Potato Expo 2016, Mirage Hotel
and Casino, Las Vegas, Nev.
Monday, Jan. 11
American Farm Bureau Annual
Convention, Orlando, Fla., Conven-
tion Center.
Growing Quality Hay Workshop,
Oregon State University Extension,
Grants Pass, Ore., 541-776-7371.
Managing the soil, cutting and
curing, equipment required, forage
analysis and its importance, prob-
lems with poor quality hay and its
Sunday, Jan. 10
American Farm Bureau Annual
Convention, Orlando, Fla., Conven-
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By SEAN ELLIS
BOISE — Sen. Jim Rice
is not a farmer or rancher, as
most chairmen of agriculture
committees in the Idaho Leg-
islature have been.
Growing up in the Kuna
area of Southwestern Idaho,
he was the only male student
in his freshman high school
class who didn’t belong to
FFA.
But many of his neighbors
were farmers, he moved irri-
gation pipe as a youngster,
and he gained an appreciation
for agriculture at a young age.
He still points out which crops
are growing in fields to pas-
sengers when driving through
farm country.
“Agriculture is a huge
portion of our economy,” the
Caldwell Republican said.
“It’s something that is vital
to our state’s economy, and it
will remain vital.”
Heading into his second
session as chairman of the
Idaho Senate Agricultural
Affairs Committee, Rice has
built a reputation as a staunch
defender of farming and
ranching.
“Senator Rice has been re-
ally supportive of agriculture
and he’s a quick learner,” said
Sen. Jim Patrick, a Republi-
can farmer from Twin Falls
and an ag committee member.
“I fully support him.”
When it comes to agricul-
ture and legislation, Rice be-
lieves less is better.
“Idaho’s done a good job
Capital Press
Wednesday, Jan. 13
Far West AgriBusiness Associa-
tion annual winter conference, Col-
lege of Southern Idaho, Twin Falls.
Oregon Mint Growers 67th
Annual Meeting, Salishan Lodge
& Golf Resort, Gleneden Beach,
Ore.
2016 EcoFarm Conference, Asi-
lomar Conference Grounds, Pacific
Grove, Calif.
Potato Expo 2016, Mirage Hotel
and Casino, Las Vegas, Nev.
Northwest Hay Expo, Three
Rivers Convention Center, Kenne-
wick, Wash.
Friday, Jan. 15
Friday, Jan. 22
Oregon Mint Growers 67th An-
nual Meeting, Salishan Lodge &
Golf Resort, Gleneden Beach, Ore.
2016 EcoFarm Conference, Asi-
lomar Conference Grounds, Pacific
Grove, Calif.
Wednesday, Jan. 20
Saturday, Jan. 23
2016 EcoFarm Conference, Asi-
lomar Conference Grounds, Pacific
Grove, Calif.
2016 EcoFarm Conference, Asi-
lomar Conference Grounds, Pacific
Grove, Calif.
Northwest Hay Expo, Three
Rivers Convention Center, Kenne-
wick, Wash.
Monday, Jan. 25
Oregon Blueberry Conference,
Red Lion Hotel, Portland.
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Index
California ...............................11
Dairy .................................... 16
Idaho .................................... 10
Livestock ............................. 16
Markets ............................... 15
Opinion .................................. 6
Oregon .................................. 8
Washington ........................... 9
Corrections
The name of Harney County,
Ore., rancher Melodi Molt was
misspelled in a Jan. 1 story about
militia groups protesting prison sen-
tences handed to ranchers Dwight
and Steven Hammond.
Also, the winner of the Dec. 4
Oregon State FFA Ag Sales com-
petition at Ontario was incorrect in
a Dec. 25 story. The winning team
was from the Yamhill Carlton FFA
chapter.
The Capital Press regrets the
errors.