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East Oregonian
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Oregon lawmakers move to prepare
for interstate marijuana commerce
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
MORE INSIDE
25 local governments
sue over California
pot delivery
Page A8
SALEM — It may seem
like a pipe dream now, but
Oregon lawmakers are antic-
ipating the federal govern-
ment legalizing, or at least
tolerating, the interstate
transfer of marijuana.
The Senate Judiciary
Committee moved forward
a bill this week empower-
ing the governor to enter into
agreements with other states
for such transactions. The
bill, which was completely
rewritten in an amendment,
goes to the Senate floor for a
vote.
Unlike the original bill,
the new version specifies
that it would not be operative
until federal law is amended
to allow for the interstate
transfer of marijuana, or the
U.S. Department of Justice
issues an opinion or memo-
randum allowing or tolerat-
ing it.
Sen. Cliff Bentz, one of
two Republican committee
members who voted against
the bill, said he prefers to
wait for the federal govern-
ment to take action.
But Sen. Shemia Fagan
of Portland, who was among
four Democrats and one
Republican who voted in
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File
In this Sept. 30, 2016, file photo, a marijuana harvester exam-
ines buds going through a trimming machine near Corvallis.
favor Wednesday, said it
would give Oregon mari-
juana businesses an advan-
tage if and when the federal
government opens the path.
“Oregon’s industry is
basically first in line for when
the feds do act,” Fagan said.
“If we wait until the feds act,
then all the other states will
be working with their legisla-
tures to then pass, and Ore-
gon will kind of be at the tip
of the spear and take advan-
tage of what could be a lucra-
tive opportunity for Oregon
industry.”
There are several bills in
Congress that would take
marijuana off the federal
controlled substances list.
Their future remains uncer-
tain, but even a decision by
the federal Justice Depart-
ment to de-prioritize prose-
cuting interstate marijuana
commerce would be enough
for Oregon’s governor to start
seeking cooperation with
other states, according to the
bill and its co-sponsor, Sen.
Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene.
“The governor would
not be able to move for-
ward unless there was some-
thing like a new Cole memo,
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
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Occasional rain
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showers around
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and sun
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through 3 p.m. yest.
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Oregon newsrooms
team up to ‘break
silence’ around suicide
across Oregon.
Stories will shed light
on how the suicide crisis
touches every community
in the state, regardless of
age, gender or sexuality.
They’ll also showcase best
prevention methods, and
how different groups are
working to save lives.
“With better informa-
tion about the scope of the
problem and the best prac-
tices by way of prevention,
we in the media have the
possibility of truly saving
lives,” said Therese Bot-
tomly, editor of The Ore-
gonian/Oregon Live, one
of the newsrooms partici-
pating in the project.
The initiative stemmed
from a series of round-
tables between Oregon
media organizations and
Dwight Holton, CEO of
Lines for Life, a Port-
land-based suicide pre-
vention nonprofit that also
runs a number of crisis
lines.
Holton, a former fed-
eral prosecutor, has pre-
viously counseled report-
ers on how to sensitively
cover suicide by avoiding
sensationalist details and
by guiding readers toward
support services. If done
right, he said, journalists
can do their part to break
down
misconceptions
about mental health.
“The reality is we have
a crisis around addic-
tion and suicide,” he said.
“Part of addressing that is
changing the way journal-
ists and communities talk
and think about suicide.”
This type of project, he
adds, takes on an added
significance in Oregon,
which, like other moun-
tain states, is experienc-
ing suicide rates far higher
than the national aver-
age. Oregon’s suicide rate
jumped 35% in less than
two decades, and suicide
is the eighth leading cause
of death in the state. The
Oregon Health Author-
ity estimates 825 people
died by suicide in 2017,
and approximately 14,000
people end up in the emer-
gency room each year from
trying to harm themselves.
By SARAH
ZIMMERMAN
Associated Press
SALEM — If you’re a
regular reader of your local
news, it’s likely you’ll have
a good sense of how many
people died in a car crash
or of a terminal illness.
But it’s less likely you’ll
hear when somebody dies
by suicide.
It’s partly because of
a long-held rule across
newsrooms not to report
on suicide, out of respect
for the family and from the
belief that reporting on the
topic could have a “conta-
gious effect” and inspires
others to also take their
own lives.
While there’s some evi-
dence for that logic, the
nation’s growing number
of suicides has become
difficult for reporters to
ignore. The Centers for
Disease Control and Pre-
vention reports the national
suicide rate is at a 50-year
high, climbing 33% since
1999. It’s estimated 25,000
Americans died by suicide
in 2016 alone.
“Journalists
stopped
covering suicide for some
very good reasons,” said
Nicole Dahmen, an associ-
ate professor of journalism
at the University of Ore-
gon. “But the unintended
consequence of that is that
suicide has remained unre-
ported, and death by sui-
cide has been on the rise so
much so that it’s become a
public health crisis.”
The issue has prompted
reporters in Oregon, which
has a suicide rate 40%
higher than the national
average, to take a differ-
ent approach to tackling
the topic.
Over 30 newsrooms
from around the state are
banding together in an
unprecedented, weeklong
reporting collaboration to
shed light on suicide and
its effect on the commu-
nity. The project, known
as “Breaking the Silence,”
will run from April 7 to 14
and involve newspapers,
T.V. stations and student
media organizations from
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
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24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
57/49
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through 3 p.m. yest.
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LOW
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Pendleton 53/39
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
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PRECIPITATION
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Lake
56/40
Aberdeen
50/41
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Tacoma
Yesterday
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Wenatchee
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or something happening in
Congress to permit this type
of transaction, or something
else coming out of the U.S.
Attorneys as to tolerance,”
Prozanski told the judiciary
committee, which he chairs.
The Cole memorandum
restricts federal marijuana
law enforcement in states
where pot is legal. Oregon
was the first state to decrim-
inalize personal possession,
in 1973. It legalized medical
marijuana in 1998, and recre-
ational use in 2014. Ten states
have legalized recreational
marijuana.
Any agreement with other
states must ensure enforce-
able public health and safety
standards, and include a sys-
tem to regulate and track the
interstate delivery of mari-
juana items, the bill says.
The judiciary commit-
tee’s action was hailed by
Adam J. Smith, executive
director of the Craft Canna-
bis Alliance, an Oregon asso-
ciation of cannabis and allied
businesses.
“We had an exciting
week as export moved for-
ward in Oregon, and we are
laying the groundwork for a
national campaign,” Smith
said in a statement. “We are
pushing so hard to open new
markets for Oregon’s world-
class cannabis by 2021.”
A yes vote on the Sen-
ate floor, which hasn’t been
scheduled yet but could hap-
pen as early as next week,
would send the bill to the
House side.
Democratic Gov. Kate
Brown has not staked out a
position on the bill, telling
reporters instead that her pri-
ority is opening up the bank-
ing industry to cannabis
businesses. In an indication
of how much the industry is
booming, cannabis gener-
ated a record-high $82 mil-
lion in tax revenues for the
state during the last fiscal
year, according to the Ore-
gon Department of Revenue.
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
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SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
54/43
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
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Moonset today
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7:29 p.m.
7:30 a.m.
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First
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NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 90° in Immokalee, Fla. Low 6° in Champion, Mich.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Man arrested in rape of Seattle
woman seeking ride-share
SEATTLE (AP) — A
34-year-old man has been
arrested on suspicion of rap-
ing a Seattle woman who
thought he was her Uber
driver, police said.
The arrest came days after
a University of South Caro-
lina student was killed after
getting into a car that she
thought was her Uber ride.
The Seattle arrest was
made on Wednesday after
the King County Sheriff’s
Office shared images on
social media taken from sur-
veillance video.
A judge on Thursday
found probable cause to
hold the man on investiga-
tion of third-degree rape and
ordered him held in lieu of
$750,000 bail.
Sheriff’s Office spokes-
man Sgt. Ryan Abbott said
the man’s name hasn’t been
officially released yet, pend-
ing formal charges.
He said the woman was
raped Dec. 16 after she left a
Seattle bar to catch an Uber
that had been ordered by her
friend.
The sheriff’s office says a
man in a black vehicle led her
to believe he was her driver
before pulling the car over
and raping her. Abbott said a
relative saw a photo on tele-
vision news and told the sus-
pect that he was being inves-
tigated for rape. The man
reportedly said he was going
to go to the sheriff’s office to
clear his name.
The statement of probable
cause outlining the sheriff’s
case said the man provided
his information to authorities
then left a precinct.
He and his wife then
drove to the home of the vic-
tim and knocked on her door
and her neighbors’ doors,
the statement says. Someone
called police and the man
was arrested.
Police say he claimed
he thought the woman con-
sented to sex, but he acknowl-
edged she was intoxicated.
In the South Carolina
case, authorities say Saman-
tha Josephson was killed
after getting into a car think-
ing it was her Uber ride. A
24-year-old man charged in
that case is accused of using
the childproof locks in his car
to imprison her.
Safety advocates advised
that ride-sharing services
will send a description of a
vehicle, its license tag num-
ber and a photo of the driver.
They recommended pas-
sengers check the informa-
tion before getting inside a
vehicle.
They also suggest requir-
ing the driver to give the
name of the person request-
ing the ride as an extra level
of safety.
Uber also advises peo-
ple to match the license plate
number and driver’s photo.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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