BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2022 A5
REGION
Wyden: End federal restrictions on cannabis
Oregon senator applauds passage of
bill in U.S. House, while working on
his own legislation to get colleagues
to respond to the ‘will of the voters’
ter then-President Richard
M. Nixon declared a “war on
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden says
drugs” that even its proponents
it’s time for Congress to lift
concede has largely failed.
federal cannabis re-
In a statement
strictions dating back
issued after the
more than 80 years to
House vote, Blume-
the Great Depression.
nauer said:
The Oregon
“As we mark 50
Democrat made his
years of the devastat-
statement after the
ing War on Drugs, it
House approved
is past time for Con-
similar legislation
gress to catch up with
Wyden
April 1, the second
the public and major-
time it has done so
ity of states who have
in 18 months. Wyden, who is legalized some form of can-
nabis, and pass legislation to
chairman of the tax-writing
decriminalize the adult use of
Senate Finance Committee,
has been working on his own recreational cannabis.”
Blumenauer was a 24-year-
version with New Jersey Sen.
Cory Booker and Senate Ma- old state representative in
jority Leader Chuck Schumer 1973, when Oregon became
the first state to make pos-
of New York. They released a
draft last summer, and plan to session of one ounce or less
punishable as an infraction —
unveil legislation after Con-
comparable to a traffic offense
gress returns from its Easter
recess. It is known as the Can- — and a maximum fine of
nabis Administration and Op- $100. Oregon voters approved
a medical-use law in 1998 and
portunity Act.
full legalization in 2014, al-
Rep. Earl Blumenauer,
though Colorado and Wash-
also an Oregon Democrat,
ington preceded it.
has been a champion of both
According to the National
House bills to do away with
Conference of State Legisla-
federal restrictions that have
tures, Oregon is among 18
existed since 1937. The bills
states where marijuana is legal
are known as the Marijuana
for medical and recreational
Opportunity Reinvestment
use. Twenty-nine other states
and Expungement Act.
Under a 1970 law known as have full medical marijuana
the Controlled Substances Act, programs or allow use of can-
the federal government classi- nabis components with low
or no psychoactive chemicals
fied marijuana as a Schedule
1 drug with no medical value, that induce intoxication. Only
similar to heroin. It did so af- Idaho, Kansas and Nebraska
PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
Marina Riker/Associated Press, File
A marijuana plant.
bar public access to any form
of cannabis, other than hemp,
whose status was changed by a
federal law in 2018.
“Ending federal cannabis
prohibition is urgent business,”
Wyden said in a tweet. “I con-
gratulate the House on passing
this bill and I urge my Senate
colleagues to support my leg-
islation … It’s past time for
Congress to listen to the will of
the voters.”
Senate roadblock
But the latest legislation,
whether it’s the House bill
or Wyden’s draft bill, faces
a highly uncertain future in
an evenly divided Senate —
where 60 votes are needed
to pass something that is not
budget-related or an executive
or judicial appointment.
During a speech April 6 in
support of Ketanji Brown Jack-
son’s nomination to the U.S.
Supreme Court, Wyden crit-
icized Republicans who say
that matters such as abortion
rights should be left to states
as a conservative majority on
the high court appears poised
to restrict or overturn its 1973
decision in Roe v. Wade.
“If Republicans believed in
states’ rights, they’d respect the
right of Democratic states to
pass gun safety laws. They’d
respect the right of states to
legalize marijuana. They’d
respect the right of states to
ensure we have clean air and
water,” Wyden said. “But Re-
publicans oppose all of those
priorities, challenge those laws
in federal court and under-
mine them in Congress.”
The Senate did pass can-
nabis legislation of its own
on March 24. But the bill (S
253) simply streamlines appli-
cations for research and en-
courages the Food and Drug
Administration to develop
cannabis-derived medicines.
The bill went to the House on
a unanimous-consent vote;
there was no roll call.
House action
The latest House bill (HR
3617) went to the Senate on
a 220-204 vote mostly along
party lines. Just three Republi-
cans joined Democrats to vote
for it; two Democrats voted
with Republicans against it.
A similar bill passed the
House in a December 2020
post-election session. Its chief
significance was that it was a
step toward ending cannabis
prohibition that has been in ef-
fect since 1937, when Congress
made possession of it illegal
unless someone paid a tax for
federal permits that were un-
available.
That bill did not come to a
vote in the Senate.
The House passed another
bill (HR 1996), known as the
SAFE Act, almost a year ago
to remove barriers that canna-
bis-related businesses face in
using the banking system, such
as conducting many transac-
tions in cash. A 321-101 vote,
with all Democrats in favor
and Republicans split 106-101,
sent that bill to the Senate,
where it has not moved.
Blumenauer had this to say
after the latest House vote:
“The MORE Act decrimi-
nalizes cannabis at the federal
level and provides restorative
justice for communities which
have suffered from the dispro-
portionate and deliberate en-
forcement of cannabis prohibi-
tions. Today’s vote to pass the
MORE Act in the U.S. House
of Representatives is one step
to ending the deplorable, mis-
guided War on Drugs. It is also
a critical turning point.
“I have spent time talking
to parents of children with
seizure disorders, veterans
suffering from post-trau-
matic stress disorder (PTSD),
small businesses, and the very
communities who have been
unfairly impacted by the War
on Drugs, and they all agree:
The federal government must
end the failed prohibition on
marijuana.
“Today’s passage of the
MORE Act brings us one step
closer to winning the fight.”
La Grande man, Baker County mine featured on reality TV show
BY DICK MASON
The Observer
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Pete Candlish, along with his service dog Woodrow, are set to star in an episode of Discovery’s “Gold Rush:
Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue.
each time someone spots gold
they are doing something his-
toric because the odds are no
person has seen it before.
“You are probably the first
person to ever see it,” he said.
Candlish is optimistic that
there is more to be found in
Pete Candlish/Contributed Photo
the mines of Baker County.
Pete Candlish, left, along with his wife Stacy and daughter Adalynn,
“There is still gold out
there that the old-timers
7, pose for a photo while working on the Discovery show “Gold Rush”
didn’t get,” Candlish said.
which will feature a Baker County mine this Friday.
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Mining as therapy
Pete Candlish started
mining while with the U.S.
Coast Guard 10 years ago
in Alaska and does it as a
hobby to help him cope with
post-traumatic stress syn-
drome.
“It is great therapy for me.
It helps me with physical and
mental healing,” said Can-
dlish, who talks about this
during the television show.
The program about Sanger
Mine is available to watch
on subscription streaming
services, including Discov-
ery Plus, and Candlish said
he has received a number of
calls and messages from vet-
erans who have seen it. They
indicated that the program
helped them deal with the
challenges they are facing.
“That has been gratifying
to hear,” Candlish said.
Another reason Candlish
is so drawn to mining is that
2
deal about mining over the
10-day period.
“They showed me things
like how the configurations
of sluice boxes can make a big
difference in how much gold
you can get,” Candlish said.
Sluices are long, nar-
row boxes that water passes
through when put in a creek
or stream. Sluicing is a
method of separating and re-
covering gold from gravel by
the use of running water.
RD
LA GRANDE — A popu-
lar Discovery reality show is
bringing a La Grande man to
the small screen.
Pete Candlish appears in
an episode of “Gold Rush:
Freddy Dodge’s Mine Rescue”
now airing on the Discovery
Channel.
The reality program, which
according to Dodge’s Face-
book page has an audience
of at least 1 million viewers a
week, features mining experts
Dodge and Juan Ibarra who
visit mines throughout the
United States to show those
operating them how to do so
more effectively.
Dodge and Ibarra will be
shown at the Sanger Mine in
Baker County working with
miners including Pete Can-
dlish, who is helping oper-
ate the mine for its owners
who live in Western Oregon,
during the one-hour episode.
Candlish is a hobby miner
who owns stakes near the
Sanger Mine and has been
a fan of “Gold Rush: Freddy
Dodge’s Mine Rescue” since
the series began. He said
he “was shocked” when the
owners of Sanger Mine called
him up and offered him
a chance to appear on the
TV program.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was
totally surprised,” said Can-
dlish, who quickly took the
owners up on their offer.
His wife, Stacy, and daugh-
ter, Adalynn, 7, were not
at the mine when the pro-
gram was filmed, but a photo
of them is shown during
the episode, titled “Dial F
for Freddy.”
The show was recorded at
Sanger Mine in June of 2021
over a 10-day stretch.
“Sometimes they filmed for
an hour and only a minute of
the footage appeared in the
show,” Candlish said.
He said he learned a great
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