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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 29, 2018)
REGION Saturday, December 29, 2018 Legal marijuana industry had banner year in 2018 By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press PORTLAND — The last year was a 12-month cham- pagne toast for the legal marijuana industry as the global market exploded and cannabis pushed its way fur- ther into the financial and cultural mainstream. Liberal California became the largest legal U.S. marketplace, while conservative Utah and Okla- homa embraced medical marijuana. Canada ushered in broad legalization, and Mexico’s Supreme Court set the stage for that country to follow. U.S. drug regulators approved the first mari- juana-based pharmaceuti- cal to treat kids with a form of epilepsy, and billions of investment dollars poured into cannabis companies. Even main street brands like Coca-Cola said they are con- sidering joining the party. “I have been working on this for decades, and this was the year that the move- ment crested,” said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat working to overturn the federal ban on pot. “It’s clear that this is all coming to a head.” With buzz building across the globe, the momentum will continue into 2019. Luxembourg is poised to become the first Euro- pean country to legalize rec- reational marijuana, and South Africa is moving in that direction. Thailand legalized medicinal use of marijuana on Tuesday, and other Southeastern Asian countries may follow South Korea’s lead in legalizing cannabidiol, or CBD. It’s a non-psychoactive com- pound found in marijuana and hemp plants and used for treatment of certain med- ical problems. “It’s not just the U.S. now. It’s spreading,” said Ben Curren, CEO of Green Bits, a San Jose, California, company that develops soft- ware for marijuana retailers and businesses. Curren’s firm is one of many that blossomed as the industry grew. He started the company in 2014 with two friends. Now, he has 85 employees, and the com- pany’s software processes AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File In this Oct. 20, 2018, file photo, marijuana clone plants are displayed for sale by Interstate 5 Farms at the cannabis-themed Kushstock Festival at Adelanto, Calif. $2.5 billion in sales trans- actions a year for more than 1,000 U.S. retail stores and dispensaries. Green Bits raised $17 million in April, pull- ing in money from invest- ment firms including Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capi- tal. Curren hopes to expand internationally by 2020. “A lot of the problem is keeping up with growth,” he said. Legal marijuana was a $10.4 billion industry in the U.S. in 2018 with a quar- ter-million jobs devoted just to the handling of marijuana plants, said Beau Whitney, vice president and senior economist at New Fron- tier Data, a leading can- nabis market research and data analysis firm. There are many other jobs that don’t involve direct work with the plants but they are harder to quantify, Whitney said. Investors poured $10 bil- lion into cannabis in North America in 2018, twice what was invested in the last three years combined, he said, and the combined North Ameri- can market is expected to reach more than $16 billion in 2019. “Investors are getting much savvier when it comes to this space because even just a couple of years ago, you’d throw money at it and hope that something would stick,” he said. “But now investors are much more discerning.” Increasingly, U.S. law- makers see that success and want it for their states. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. states now have legal- ized some form of medical marijuana. Voters in November made Michigan the 10th state — and first in the Midwest — to legalize recreational mar- ijuana. Governors in New York and New Jersey are pushing for a similar law in their states next year, and momentum for broad legal- ization is building in Penn- sylvania and Illinois. “Let’s legalize the adult use of recreational mari- juana once and for all,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week. With all its success, the U.S. marijuana industry continues to be undercut by a robust black market and federal law that treats mar- ijuana as a controlled sub- stance like heroin. Finan- cial institutions are skittish about cannabis businesses, even in U.S. states where they are legal, and inves- tors until recently have been reluctant to put their money behind pot. Marijuana businesses can’t deduct their busi- ness expenses on their fed- eral taxes and face huge challenges getting insur- ance and finding real estate for their brick-and-mortar operations. “Until you have complete federal legalization, you’re going to be living with that structure,” said Marc Press, a New Jersey attorney who advises cannabis businesses. At the start of the year, the industry was chilled when then-U.S. Attorney Gen- eral Jeff Sessions rescinded a policy shielding state-li- censed medical marijuana operators from federal drug prosecutions. Ultimately the move had minimal impact because federal prosecu- tors showed little interest in going after legal operators. Sessions, a staunch mari- juana opponent, later lost his job while President Donald Trump said he was inclined to support an effort by U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colo- rado Republican, to relax the federal prohibition. Blumenauer’s “blue- print” to legalize marijuana also calls for the federal government to provide med- ical marijuana for veterans, more equitable taxation for marijuana businesses and rolling back federal prohibi- tions on marijuana research, among other things. “We have elected the most pro-cannabis Con- gress in history and more important, some of the peo- ple who were roadblocks to our work ... are gone,” Blu- menauer said. “If we’re able to jump-start it in the House, I think there will be support in the Senate, particularly if we deal with things that are important, like veterans’ access and banking.” HERMISTON — The education department at Good Shepherd Health Care System is seeking new or clean and gently used win- ter coats. During the annual “Point in Time Count,” people involved with the effort will do more than tally how many people they come in contact with. The annual counts are conducted to help policy- makers and program admin- istrators track progress toward the goal of ending homelessness. As winter sets in, the tem- peratures are becoming more frigid. In order to distribute coats to those in need, they need to be dropped off by Monday, Jan. 28 in the edu- cation department at Good Shepherd, 610 N.W. 11th St., Hersmiton. For more infor- mation, call 541-667-3509. ESD encourages recognizing teachers PENDLETON — Stu- dents, parents, school staff and community members are invited to recognize the hard work of educators who may be worthy of receiving an award. Nominations are now open for the Regional Teacher of the Year award. Each education service dis- trict in Oregon will select a regional teacher, who will receive a cash prize of $500. One of the regional winners will be named the 2020 Ore- gon Teacher of the Year in September 2019. Anyone can nominate a teacher from any Oregon school district. “It’s great to have peo- ple nominate teachers they know and admire, so we have a bigger pool of appli- cants from which to choose our recipient,” said Michele Madril, director of commu- nication at InterMountain Education Service District. To nominate someone, visit www.oregonteacheroft- heyear.org. For more infor- mation, contact Jenni Knaus, program coordinator, at jenni.knaus@state.or.us. A3 Local offices closed by partial federal shutdown By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN East Oregonian BRIEFLY Good Shepherd collects coats for count East Oregonian The partial government shutdown has had some impact on local offices. But it’s hard to find out exactly how, because those offices are closed and spokespeo- ple are not available by phone, or even by email. President Donald Trump has refused to sign a bill authorizing govern- ment funding for non-es- sential services until his demand for money to build a wall along the southern border is met. Democrats, who take control of the House on Jan. 3, are refus- ing to give him what he wants, and it’s not known how long the shutdown may last. Until then, many gov- ernment employees have either been furloughed or are working without pay until the funding bill is signed. While some locally based federal services, like the U.S. Postal Service and the federal courts, remain in regular operation, other local offices, like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service, are closed during the shutdown. Services provided locally by the USDA OES chorale warms up for spring concert PENDLETON — The Oregon East Symphony Cho- rale is already looking forward to its spring performance. Led by assistant cho- rale conductor Steve Muller, rehearsals begin Jan. 7. They will be held Mondays from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Pendleton High School music depart- ment, 1800 N.W. Carden Ave. All local singers are invited to participate. There are no auditions or partici- pation fee. In collaboration with the Oregon East Symphony under the direction of Beau Benson, the Friday, March 15 concert includes a selec- tion of opera choruses. The chorale will perform “Triumphal March” from “Aida,” “Va, Pensiero” from “Nabucco” and “Anvil Chorus” from “Il Trova- tore,” all by by Giuseppe Verdi; “Huntsman’s Cho- rus” from “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber; include housing loans, rural energy programs, and rural business devel- opment grants. The For- est Service, under the USDA’s umbrella, man- ages and maintains forests and grasslands, and also provide services like wild- land firefighting and for- est research. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, man- aged by the U.S. Depart- ment of the Interior, man- ages national wildlife refuges in the area includ- ing Umatilla, Cold Springs and McKay Creek. Public information offi- cers from the USDA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service had recorded voicemails stating that they were on furlough, or were closed due to the shutdown. The USDA statewide PIO said she would not have access to email, either, during the time of the shutdown. Eric Watrud, the new supervisor of the Uma- tilla National Forest, said most of the staff was on furlough. He declined to comment further on what specific positions have been affected, and said the national office was han- dling all inquiries. The national office also had a recorded voicemail saying that due to the shutdown, they could not answer media requests. and the Act 1 finale of Gil- bert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore.” Local retired opera singer and composer Quade Winter has provided revisions and English translations for some of the selections. For more information or to make arrangements to obtain the chorale music prior to the rehearsals, contact the sym- phony office at 541-276-0320 or info@oregoneastsym- phony.org. HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM -megumi’s dog grooming- 541.276.6220 920 SW Frazer Ste. 105 Pendleton, OR 97801 IPG Certifi ed Advanced Professional Groomer Like me on Facebook! 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