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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016
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No labs are currently licensed by Oregon regulators
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
Oregon has no shortage of
people willing to grow and sell
marijuana under its regulatory
system for the recently-legal-
ized crop.
However, the state is facing
a dearth of labs that can test
marijuana products for the
psychoactive chemical THC as
well as prohibited pesticides and
contaminants, as required by law.
At this point, 228 growers,
96 retailers, 38 processors, 31
wholesalers and one researcher
have applied for marijuana
licenses with the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission, which
oversees the regulatory tracking
system for the crop.
The number of laboratories
that have applied? Zero.
Complications
and
expenses, rather than a lack of
interest, have prevented labo-
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smaller facilities that are already
serve marijuana producers may
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upgrades, he said.
New equipment needed to
comply with testing standards
can cost $50,000 and needs to be
calibrated for marijuana, Marks
said. Labs will also need to train
existing employees or hire more
personnel to handle the added
workload.
Medical marijuana dispensa-
Potential bottleneck
,QVXI¿FLHQW
ODERUDWRULHV ries can currently sell the recre-
could prove to be a bottleneck ational crop from “grandfathered”
in Oregon’s marijuana regula- grow sites, but retail marijuana
tory system, at least initially. The sold to consumers must meet
system will be in “good shape” if testing requirements by June.
six or seven facilities are licensed,
but will face challenges with only
Need water rights
one or two, he said.
Growers who want to
“We’re going to have enough produce recreational marijuana
eventually, it’s just how quickly for retail sales must demonstrate
they can do it,” Marks said.
they have water rights to grow
Some laboratories that the crop and obtain a statement
provide testing for industrial from their city or county govern-
companies may be able to enroll ments attesting they meet land
ratories from enrolling in the
system so far, said Steve Marks,
the commission’s executive
director.
While no existing laborato-
ries have yet been licensed for
marijuana testing, a handful have
expressed interest in obtaining
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Health Authority, Marks said.
Both agencies must approve labs
for the tracking system.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Packages of Fire OG hang on the rack at Hi in Astoria. T he state is facing a dearth of labs
that can test marijuana products for the psychoactive chemical THC as well as prohibited
pesticides and contaminants, as required by law.
use requirements.
Producers can grow canopies
of marijuana up to 10,000 square
feet indoors and 40,000 square
feet outdoors, but commer-
cial marijuana production is
currently prohibited by 76 cities
and 19 of Oregon’s 36 counties.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Man arrested with drugs after
Dignitaries present local
contractor with EPA award pursuit, crash on U.S. Highway 30
gering
another
Huff and a
passenger, Keisha
person, second-de-
Marie Ann Jones,
gree
criminal
mischief, providing
A 36-year-old Long 24, of Long Beach,
immedi-
false information
Beach, Washington, man were
WR D SROLFH RI¿FHU
was arrested Tuesday ately arrested after
and possession of
night after eluding police, the crash. Further
losing control of his i n v e s t i g a t i o n
methamphetamine,
vehicle and crashing into revealed Huff had
heroin and cocaine.
a power pole on U.S. Oregon and Wash-
He is being held in
Highway 30 in the John ington warrants and
custody on $25,000
David
was in possession
Day area.
bail.
Ryan Huff
David Ryan Huff of cocaine, meth-
An arraignment
was initially stopped by amphetamine and heroin, hearing is scheduled next
Oregon State Police for according to state police.
week.
Jones was on post-prison
having a taillight out at
John Day Volunteer Fire
milepost 89 on Highway supervision and her probation Department, Astoria Police,
30. He gave a false name RI¿FHULVVXHGDGHWDLQHU
Clatsop County Sheriff’s
Huff is being charged with 2I¿FH2UHJRQ6WDWH'HSDUW-
DQG WKHQ ÀHG IURP WKH
attempting to elude police ment of Transportation,
stop.
A pursuit ensued and with a vehicle, reckless 3DFL¿F 3RZHU DVVLVWHG WKH
Huff lost control near driving, recklessly endan- state police at the scene.
milepost 93, where a
power pole was broken.
Highway 30 was
closed for about two hours
due to power lines coming
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
down and striking three
N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
other vehicles.
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Al Jaques, a local indepen-
dent contractor, got a pleasant
surprise right in the middle of
a motorcycle group’s meeting
at the Astoria Moose Lodge last
week.
A handful of dignitaries
crashed the event to present
Jaques with a Phoenix Award,
the U.S. Environmental Protec-
tion Agency’s award honoring
individuals and groups who turn
blighted or contaminated areas
into something socially useful.
Jaques served as the
manager for the Astoria Sports
Complex construction project,
a $10 million undertaking
that wrapped up in late 2014
and transformed the Astoria
0XQLFLSDO/DQG¿OORQ:LOOLDP-
sport Road into a community
complex.
“I tell ya, Al was the right
person to have working on this
project,” Astoria City Manager
Brett Estes said. “He managed
the whole construction project
and was having to wear many
hats to get the thing built and
done.”
Since Astoria High School’s
Fighting Fishermen use the site
for their new home stadium,
WKH EURZQ¿HOG UHGHYHORSPHQW
freed up the old high school
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Columbia Memorial Hospital’s
new cancer treatment center
now in the works.
At a ceremony held in
Chicago in September, the EPA
gave the Region 10 Phoenix
$ZDUG WR WKH ODQG¿OO SURMHFW
Estes; former Astoria Mayor
Willis Van Dusen; Astoria
School Board Superinten-
dent Craig Hoppes; hospital
CEO Erik Thorsen; and Fred
Stemmler, general manager
of Recology Western Oregon,
accepted the trophy.
But the consortium felt that
Jaques deserved a trophy, too.
So they ordered one specially
for him.
“It was an awesome
surprise,” Jaques said. “Appar-
ently, many people knew it was
Carl Earl/The Daily Astorian
Holding his Phoenix Award, Al Jaques, the project manager
of the Astoria Sports Complex, listens to state Sen. Betsy
Johnson, D-Scappoose, congratulate him over the phone
held aloft by former Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen.
coming, but I was the last one to
know.”
Joined by Public Works
Director Ken Cook; City
Engineer Jeff Harrington;
Astoria High School Athletic
Director Howard Rub; and, via
phone, state Sen. Betsy Johnson,
D-Scappoose, the group stormed
the North Coast ABATE motor-
cycle meeting to give Jaques his
due publicly.
“He was just totally blown
away,” Jaques’ partner, Linda
Long, said.
“It only lasted about 20
minutes,” Van Dusen said, “but
it was a very memorable 20
minutes.”
Van Dusen added that, while
Jaques has done many great
projects in Astoria, “the one that, in
my opinion, is the most important,
that’s going to stand out more than
the others, is this sports complex
and the cancer center.
“And all of us involved in
that teamwork effort thought
that Al was our team captain,”
he said.
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