Eugene weekly., August 18, 2016, Page 12, Image 12

Too
Legit
To
Quit
Black Market Pot
After Legalization
BY R I C K L E V I N
fter the fireworks, there’s still the smoke.
The legalization of retail weed in Oregon
— a real Fourth of July moment for pot-
heads — has left in its wake an enduring
fug of legal, political and commercial
questions that can make prohibition look like a cheerful
stroll to the neighborhood dealer in comparison.
One of the major selling points for going legal, at least
from the legislative standpoint, was the notion that hauling
weed aboveboard would put the screws to the black mar-
ket, eventually paralyzing all the criminal shenanigans that
come with the illegal distribution of drugs. According to
this argument, the commodification and careful regulation
of marijuana would starve out the underground, taking pot
off the streets and out of the hands of thugs, gangbangers
and evil cartels.
Like so many issues surrounding weed in Oregon,
the impact of legalization on the so-called black market
remains to be seen. It’s complicated. A causal survey of
smokers in Eugene revealed to EW that many people are
indeed now buying their smoke at dispensaries — surpris-
ing, perhaps, because the general sentiment prior to legal-
ization was that underground weed would remain cheaper
and better, keeping most established smokers tapping the
black market.
A
As someone who’s spent half her life in the underground
marijuana industry, Bronwynn Dean says the idea that le-
galization will wipe out the black market is absurd. Dean,
a Eugene writer (and occasional EW contributor) currently
penning a collection of essays about her weed experiences,
says an industry that’s existed for decades won’t simply go
away because the product is now being taxed and stamped
for stores.
“I’m talking about the guys that are moving multiple
pounds on the regular,” she explains. “I’m not talking
about the dime bag. The guys that started growing 20 years
ago got into it for a reason, and whatever reason that may
be, it definitely has nothing to do with wanting to comply
with authority.”
The previously existing underground market is alive
and well, Dean says, and she makes the important distinc-
tion between illicit dealers and folks producing and mov-
ing large quantities of weed. “None of them are ready to
sign up to get their shit tagged and searched and all of the
above. That’s not why they do it.”
Dean explains that the cost alone of going legit is pro-
hibitive to this “good-old-boy network” of growers who
have been producing quality weed for a long, long time.
“I do know some major players who considered the cost
of licensing and all the shit they have to jump through,”
she says of the process of going retail. “The cost alone, it’s
designed to drive down their profit and they’re going to
have to cut costs, and the shit’s not going to be as good.”
What’s more, she says, most of the marijuana grown in
Oregon is being sent out of state. “I would say that 90 per-
cent of what’s being grown here is getting shipped,” Dean
says.
Adam Jacques of Oregon Microgrowers Guild echoes
Dean’s sentiments. Jacques, an award-winning medical pot
grower who will soon open a dispensary in Eugene, says
that so long as retail pot remains illegal at the federal level
as well as in most states, the black market will continue to
exist. “Nationally, the black market’s going to be a thing
for a while,” he explains. “There are always going to be
states that require a large amount of cannabis that takes
care of the people in that state who want cannabis. Weed
from here goes everywhere.”
As a medical marijuana provider who’s also entering
the retail market, Jacques points out that he’s meticulous in
following the legal requirements, down to counting every
seed he produces and installing fencing and surveillance
cameras. “There’s no way that anybody who’s working
the regulatory system can get away with illegally selling
stuff,” he explains.
That said, Jacques says he believes everyone from con-
‘The guys that started growing 20 years ago
got into it for a reason, and whatever reason
that may be, it definitely has nothing to do
with wanting to comply with authority.’
— B R O N W Y N N D E A N , U N D E R G R O U N D C A N N A B I S I N D U S T RY V E T E R A N
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A ugust 18, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com