Breaking 4 laws with 1 code

8 weeks old, from seed that sprouted July 9th

Councilors, Mayor and Manager:

          You each took an oath to obey the laws of the State of Oregon.  You have managed to break 4 Oregon laws in passing one code and failing to stay its enforcement when you were told that it is illegal.  This may be a new record in breaking state laws with a local code.  

Don’t tell us that you were obeying federal law in banning outdoor marijuana, because federal law completely bans it, and you are allowing indoor growing under lights.  You have allowed outdoor medical cultivation for the last 17 years without any interference until now.  It’s not your job to enforce federal law.  The feds are not enforcing it because the Supreme Court told them they can’t, back in the Bush era.

          The first of three Oregon laws, Measure 91, you broke twice, the first time in passing a 5% sales tax on marijuana in clear violation of  M 91’s ban on local pot taxes and long before the legislature allowed you only 3% sales tax in House Bill 3400, revenue which you plan to spurn by banning sales in the city.

You broke Measure 91 again when you banned all outdoor growing of marijuana without authority from the state.  You need state permission because our legislature had already banned local governments and voters from inhibiting or preventing the production, sales and use of agricultural items in Senate Bill 863 in 2013.   Carl Wilson wrote you an email about that before you began to pass it.  Some of you had read it.

SB 863 applies to marijuana and other crops, except where the legislature allows local regulation and/or taxes.  HB 3400 allows reasonable restrictions on time, place and manner of growing commercial and medical marijuana, separately amending licensing rules in Measure 91 and the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.  Forcing everyone to grow indoors under the code’s definition of “indoors” is not reasonable, so you broke HB 3400, Measure 91, and the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act.

But we don’t need a license for four homegrown plants, so SB 863 protects our right to be free of local restrictions on homegrown marijuana as long as we stay within the state’s rules.

You have managed to break 4 Oregon laws with your code.  You will be hearing from my attorney.

December 2nd update: I had to fire my first attorney and have retained new counsel, Andrew Deweese of Portland.  I am raising funds to pay him at www.GoFundMe.com/HomegrownDefense.  A trial date is set for June; hearing on the City’s motion for summary judgment is set for February 8^th.

                   

September 2nd speech and protest issue, published at GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com, revised 12/12/15

Sign the petition at https://t.co/l7oJgGKeGc

Read the ordinance at http://gardengrantspass.blogspot.com/2015/09/chapter-572-homegrown-and-medical.html

Support the lawsuit at www.GoFundMe.com/HomegrownDefense 

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener          541-955-9040        rycke@gardener.com