News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Medical marijuana business thriving
Recreational
pot petition
coming back
Blue Mountain Eagle
Blue Mountain Eagle
Eagle photos/Richard Hanners
Haley Olson stands in front of the safe that safely stores medical marijuana products
at the Rocky Mountain Dispensary west of John Day Jan. 4.
Family business
Rocky Mountain Dispen-
sary is a family business,
with Olson, her mother and
father and her uncle and
cousins being the only em-
ployees. The dispensary be-
longs to the National Canna-
bis Industry Association, and
Olson was invited to speak to
the association in Denver in
February about prohibition
and discrimination in Grant
County. She said she’s been
interviewed several times by
High Times magazine, which
has become the industry’s
trade journal.
“In the past, the indus-
try got a bad record because
some people were not pro-
fessional,” Olson said. “This
created a stoner stereotype.”
A security system at the
dispensary cost $27,000, Ol-
son said. There have been
no incidents since the busi-
ness opened, and the store
has been toured by the Grant
County Sheriff’s Office and
the John Day Police Depart-
ment, she said. Some securi-
ty requirements are required
under state law: A 5-foot-
tall safe, for example, stores
product at night when every-
one is gone.
“State law requires it
weigh at least 750 pounds or
be bolted to the floor,” Olson
said.
The Oregon Health Au-
thority conducted a random
inspection at the dispensa-
ry in December. An agent
walked through the premises
and inspected inventory and
the store’s 90-day security
video backup to ensure the
business was checking cus-
tomer IDs.
All products sold at the
dispensary are inspected by
a lab in Portland and tracked
by bar code, Olson said.
Products are tested for THC
content, mold and numerous
Hand-rolled medical
marijuana joints
advertised for sale at
the Rocky Mountain
Dispensary.
pesticide chemicals. The tests
cost about $400 per strain per
harvest, she said.
“We can’t accept any
product that hasn’t been test-
ed,” Olson said.
She recommends that
people buy marijuana from a
certified dispensary.
“You don’t know if your
buddy used chemicals to
grow his pot,” she said.
Marijuana
farming
The family also oper-
ates Rocky Mountain Farms
in John Day, which grows
marijuana both outdoors and
indoors using hydroponics.
The latter requires adding nu-
trients to the water, but they
only use only food-grade nu-
trients, Olson said.
The John Day store most-
ly sells marijuana grown by
15 farmers in the county, not
their own, Olson said.
“We want to help the lo-
cal growers by buying their
product,” she said.
State law prohibits grow-
ing or processing medical
marijuana in a dispensary
building. Processed products
sold in the store are made by
other vendors, but the fami-
ly plans to start a processing
facility in Grant County this
spring to make extracts, vape
cartridges, tinctures and oils
using locally grown marijua-
na, Olson said. The plan is to
sell the products in the John
Day dispensary or to other
dispensaries.
About 10 to 15 of their
regular patients are suffer-
ing from glaucoma, Olson
said. Medical marijuana will
not cure glaucoma but can
relieve pressure on the eye.
Other patients have blood
pressure issues, she said.
Many patients don’t
smoke but use lotions for
arthritis or purchase topical
and edible tinctures, candy
and drinks. Medical mari-
juana products contain THC,
which has psychoactive
properties, and cannabidiol,
which has topical effects but
“won’t get you stoned,” Ol-
son said.
Many of the dispensary’s
patients are on pain killers,
including opioids, which are
blamed for a deadly epidem-
ic across the nation. Olson
noted that seven patients
who come to her store have
stopped using opioids and
switched to medical marijua-
na.
Recreational
marijuana
Most opioid addicts don’t
have a medical condition
that would qualify them for a
state medical marijuana card,
Olson said. But these peo-
ple could benefit from using
recreational marijuana, she
noted.
Olson is helping organize
a petition to overturn the ban
33100
in Grant County of sales,
distribution, processing and
growing marijuana for rec-
reational purposes. A petition
in May 2016 lost 1,689 to
1,469.
The Rocky Mountain Dis-
pensary pays no tax to the
county, but recreational mar-
ijuana sales would provide a
tax revenue to the county, she
said. Grant County will no
longer receive a share of the
statewide tax revenue from
recreational marijuana sales
because recreational sales are
prohibited here.
“This is about helping the
local economy and trying to
make up for the lost timber
industry,” Olson said.
The county could use this
new tax revenue for a mul-
titude of purposes, she said.
Legalizing recreational mar-
ijuana would also help the
economy — cannabis indus-
try jobs start at $15 per hour,
she said.
“A person with a com-
mercial kitchen could make
marijuana baked goods and
sell them to us and make a
great amount of money,” Ol-
son said.
The recreational marijua-
na industry is regulated by
the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission. Olson noted
that Grant County consum-
ers currently travel outside
the county to purchase recre-
ational marijuana. In Sumpt-
er, they pay 20 percent in
state and local taxes, she said.
Olson also noted that if
the petition passed, recre-
ational marijuana use locally
wouldn’t change much. Peo-
ple over 21 can legally pos-
sess and consume marijuana
and grow up to four plants
per residence under state law,
even though the county has
banned commercial growing
and sales.
Olson said it can also be
obtained illegally.
“Grant County has a thriv-
ing black market for canna-
bis,” she said.
A3
Student goes the distance
to help cancer patients
By Angel Carpenter
By Richard Hanners
It’s been about six months
since the Rocky Mountain
Dispensary opened just west
of John Day and began offer-
ing medical marijuana prod-
ucts to state-certified custom-
ers.
The dispensary has about
85 to 95 regular customers,
all referred by a doctor, store
manager Haley Olson said.
Medical marijuana is regu-
lated by the Oregon Health
Authority. Olson said about
75 percent of her customers
are over 50 years old.
“It’s a growing business
in Grant County, with new
patients still getting state
cards,” she said.
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
Prairie City High School
senior Brianna Zweygardt
oversaw a project that raised
over $1,500 to assist Blue
Mountain Hospital cancer
patients with fuel expenses
for travel to out-of-county ap-
pointments.
Zweygardt said she learned
from a friend’s grandmother,
who was diagnosed with can-
cer, of a program in Harney
County that distributes fuel
cards to cancer patients.
“Living in this rural area,
we don’t have access to a fa-
cility for them to be treated,”
Zweygardt said. “This often
leaves them with long travel
times.”
Making frequent trips for
out-of-town doctor appoint-
ments can add up to large fuel
bills, so Zweygardt stepped
in to help and fulfilled her se-
nior project requirement at the
same time.
The daughter of Lance and
Louanne Zweygardt, Brianna
plans to major
in veterinary
science and
play softball at
college.
She raised
money for her
Brianna
senior project
Zweygardt
selling T-shirts
and raffling off
baskets with items donated by
Grant County businesses.
The Prairie City Athlet-
ic Department also donated
money paid at the gate for
the Panther volleyball team’s
cancer awareness match.
“I want to give a huge
thanks to all those who helped
me through donations and
support,” she said. “This proj-
ect also allowed me to work
with a lot of my amazing
community members.”
She said fundraising is al-
ways a challenge, but if it’s
for a good cause, the commu-
nity is supportive.
“I am very glad I chose
this project,” she said. “It
taught me a lot about how one
person can make a change.”
Contributed photo
Prairie City High School senior Dorran Wilson, center,
presents a check for $1,126 to Blue Mountain Hospital
CEO Derek Daly, left, and radiology manager Larry Leos.
Wilson organized an alumni basketball game, held Dec.
29, for his senior project with the proceeds assisting
BMH cancer patients.
Alumni basketball game
supports local cancer patients
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Prairie City senior Dorran
Wilson combined his love
of basketball and his grand-
mother for his senior project.
Wilson organized an alum-
ni basketball game, which
was played Dec. 29 over
Christmas break.
The price of admission
and donations from a spaghet-
ti feed, coordinated by Pam
Woodworth, will benefit Blue
Mountain Hospital’s cancer
funds.
“The intent was to help re-
duce travel costs for patients
when they go for chemother-
apy and radiation treatments,”
Wilson said. “I was inspired
by my grandmother who was
diagnosed with breast cancer
in July.”
Wilson said he was as-
sured by hospital officials that
the $1,126 in proceeds will go
toward the intended use, for
gas cards, hotels and meals.
The Prairie City Pan-
ther boys went head to head
against a team of 12 alumni
players ranging in age from
about 19 to 50.
The Panthers, coached by
Sam Workman, came out on
top 70-60 against the alum-
ni, coached by Sam’s father,
longtime and now-retired
basketball coach Mike Work-
man.
“It was fun watching the
old guys play. We gave them
the gray jerseys to match their
hair,” Wilson quipped.
He said the alumni game
was fun and the first one
they’ve had in three years.
“I hope that future students
put on alumni basketball
games, even if it’s not for any
fundraiser,” he said.
Wilson said he plans to
pursue his dream of playing
college basketball and a de-
gree in construction manage-
ment and engineering.