We Changed the Law!

I started smoking marijuana rather than drinking when I was 18, having started when I was drunk.  It saved me from depression and alcoholism.

Ever since, I have heard, “If you don’t like the law, change it!”   After several attempts, we changed it in Oregon, first to allow medical use, and finally to allow all adults to grow and use it.  Measure 91 was so restrictive that I actually campaigned and voted against it, seeing the mischief that could be done by cops that hate pot users with the low possession limits for households to store a year’s worth of homegrown.  Hold onto too much, enough for a household of several smokers, and you could lose your house.  It failed by only 2 votes in Josephine County.  If I had voted for it, it would have been a tie.

But the people of Oregon passed it overwhelmingly, and I was glad.  Our newly elected state representative, Carl Wilson, who had campaigned against it offensively, got himself appointed to the committee to amend Measure 91 and the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act and called me and proponents into his office to learn about marijuana and discuss what needed to be changed in Measure 91.  The legislature changed the commercial tax from a grower tax to a sales tax and allowed local governments to make money for their general funds with their own 3% sales tax in House Bill 3400.  They even allowed for reasonable local regulation of licensed marijuana businesses. 

They didn’t change anything regarding the homegrown possession limits in Measure 91.  But without a cause to search, police couldn’t look for excess pot to cause any mischief.   Knowing that OMMP possession limits had been raised from 3 ounces to 24 ounces over several years, I figure that homegrown limits will eventually be raised, and relaxed.

But just before Measure 91 went into effect, the Grants Pass City Council started the process to pass a new nuisance code, allowing only indoor growing of marijuana within the city, and defining a greenhouse as not “indoors.”  Indeed, their definition of “indoors” doesn’t even cover normal houses.  On July 1, the very day I legally planted my crop in my backyard, they passed it on the first reading, but didn’t have the votes for a second reading and finally passed unanimously it on July 15^th. 

The people of Oregon passed a law to end the war on pot users and the Grants Pass City Council and their attorney figure that they can continue it with a city code.  Carl Wilson warned them in writing before their first vote that they were violating SB 863 (2013) and the city could be sued, but they did it anyways.  Their ordinance is so unreasonable that it violates Measure 91 and the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, as amended by House Bill 3400, which was signed before the ordinance passed, but they passed it anyways, breaking four state laws with one city code.  I told them on July 23^rd that they had even banned possession out of “indoors” in the city, and they simply amended it to remove possession on September 16^th.

Their attorney seems to think that they can nullify state laws with this clause:

5.72.060 Conflict of laws

In the event of any conflict between this ordinance and the provisions of any applicable state or local law, the more restrictive provision shall control.

As though a city can overcome state laws with a local code!  This must have been copied from a state law; the state can get away with saying it.  The entire Chapter 5.72, Homegrown and Medical Marijuana, was copied from Central Point’s code of the same name.

SB 863 (2013) forbids local governments and voters from enacting or enforcing any law that inhibits or prevents the production, sale, or advertising of any product of agriculture, which marijuana has been since OMMA passed.   Where the state allows reasonable regulation, as they do in Measure 91 for licensed recreational production, processing and sales, and in HB 3400 for medical, they can pass and enforce reasonable regulations.  Chapter 5.72 definitely inhibits or prevents home production of marijuana, which the state has not allowed local governments to regulate at all, so SB 863 applies to void it regarding homegrown, which the state has not given cities permission to regulate.

The City Council has put a general 2% retail sales tax on the ballot to pay for public safety, but they spurn the 3% sales tax that the state has allowed them for retail marijuana sales, as well as their share of the 17% sales tax that the state will be charging retail “recreational” pot buyers, by banning both medical processing and dispensaries and all licensed “recreational” marijuana businesses. 

This will not help them pass the first general sales tax in Oregon, not least because they have shown us with Chapter 5.72 that they intend to continue making war on pot growers and users.  There are enough in this city to be a large minority, maybe even a majority, of the voters who vote against both city and county levies, because most people don’t vote more money for law enforcement when they might go to jail.  Measure 91 might have changed that, but for this ordinance showing how unreasonably the city would enforce it.

Chapter 5.72’s “indications” of cultivation, which are vague, ordinary annoyances not necessarily tied to pot cultivation, give police plenty of opportunity to search our homes, not only to see if we are violating the ordinance, but to see if we possess too much marijuana or its products to be within the homegrown exception to the licensing rules.  This would then allow them to seize our home for violating the license we don’t have.  Fines are just the tip of the iceberg of penalties that we can be hit with.

We voted to change the law; the Council voted to continue their war on us.  They can’t legally do it.  That’s why I’m suing the City.

                   

September 28, 2015 protest leaflet.  Published on GardenGrantsPass.blogspot.com.  Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/grants-pass-city-manager-aaron-cubic-leave-pot-growers-alone-target-litter-and-weeds

Read Chapter 5.72 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

Signs of Cultivation

The heart of Chapter 5.72 of the Grants Pass Municipal Code is:

“2.   All cultivation, curing, drying, storage, production, or processing of marijuana shall be conducted indoors…”

“3.  Cultivation, production, processing or storage of marijuana shall not be perceptible from the exterior of the household, housing unit, and/or indoor structure including but not limited to:

“a. Common visual observation, which would prohibit any form of signage;

“b. Odors, smells, fragrances, or other olfactory stimulus;

“c. Light pollution, glare or brightness that disturbs the repose of another;

“d. Undue vehicular or foot traffic, including excess parking within a residential zone; and

“e. Excessive noise that disturbs the repose of another in violation of GPMC 5.12.110.”

          Keep in mind that the definition of “Indoors” in this ordinance does not mean “in your house.”  It means in a highly secure structure with lockable doors and no windows, as glass can easily be broken into, and plastic or similar materials, no matter how thick, make it not “indoors.”  See “Intent and Purpose of Nuisance Code 5.72”.

          Any of the above signs of cultivation and more are grounds for a search warrant to see if you are actually cultivating.  If you are, then you are in violation of the ordinance, because they were able to tell by the signs.  If not, you have had your privacy invaded for no reason except nosiness.   Don’t expect them to apologize.

Loud party?  Send the cops to search the place!  Any kind of gathering?  Excessive traffic and excessive parking!  Security lights?  An obvious sign that you are trying to deter pot thieves!  A skunk sprays near your yard?  The stink of pot; call the cops!

          But the most interesting one is “Common visual observation.”  Thieves pay attention, read newspapers, and sometimes even read the law.  Board up windows on a room in an attempt to make it “indoors” and it will show anyone who pays attention that you may be growing pot in that room.  Build a special "indoor" structure complying with this code in your backyard, complete with permits and fees, and some thief could target it, maybe even invade your house to make you unlock it.  Call the cops about it, and you will be cited because thieves could tell that you were growing pot!

          What happens if you are cited? 

“5.72.040 Public Nuisance Remedy

     “A.  Any household, housing unit, premises, property, building, structure, or place of any kind where medical or homegrown marijuana is grown, processed, manufactured, bartered, distributed, or given away in violation of state law or this chapter, or any place where medical or homegrown marijuana is kept or possessed for sale, barter, distribution, or gift in violation of state law or this chapter, is a public nuisance per Chapter 8.04.

B.     “In addition to the foregoing, two or more violations in a 30-day period may be deemed a Chronic Nuisance Property subject to provisions of Chapter 5.12.

    “ C.  In addition to any remedies provided in Chapters (sic) 5.12, the City may institute an action in municipal or circuit court in the name of the City to abate, and to temporarily and permanently enjoin such nuisance.  The court has the right to make temporary and final orders as in other injunction proceedings.  The City shall not be required to give bond for such action.

“5.72.050 Violation

“In addition to treatment as a nuisance, all violations of this title are subject to punishment under the general penalty provisions in Chapter 1.16. (sic—actually 1.36)  Each day in which a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.”

            They will declare your property a public nuisance.  Notice will be posted on your property.  If they cite you again within a month, it will be declared a Chronic Nuisance.  Talk about signs of cultivation! 

To have it removed, you must show that the nuisance has been abated (pull your plants and invite the cops into your growing space to show they are gone).   The code says that you have ten days to do this, but every day it exists is a separate violation.  Or you can say that no nuisance exists, and take it to the City Council.  This will take weeks, and every day is a separate violation.  The fine for those daily violations can be up to $720 per day.

It’s like the Grants Pass City Council watched what has been happening in Ferguson, Missouri, with poor blacks being persecuted with fines, and they want some of that kind of revenue action from their favorite whipping boy, pot smokers who grow their own.  But they got this idea from Ashland and Medford, and our city attorney probably copied at least parts of their ordinances, if not the whole thing.  This town is not original about new laws.

It doesn’t pay to take the word of cops and city staff about the provisions of any new ordinance.  You have to read it, not once but several times, to understand what they are trying to do.  This one is about continuing the war on pot by city code, in the name of protecting pot thieves from their own worst impulses, by punishing their victims.

                   

September 24, 2015 protest leaflet.  Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/grants-pass-city-manager-aaron-cubic-leave-pot-growers-alone-target-litter-and-weeds

Read Chapter 5.72 at http://gardengrantspass.blogspot.com/2015/09/chapter-572-homegrown-and-medical.html

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

“Intent and Purpose” of Nuisance Code 5.72

This would not be "inside" if it was in my house.

The “Intent and Purpose” of this ordinance is hard to deduce from its statement:

“The City Council of the City of Grants Pass recognizes that citizens of the state of Oregon may engage in both recreational and medical use of marijuana in accordance with State law.  However, the City Council also recognizes that cultivating, drying, producing, processing, keeping, or storage of marijuana, without appropriate safeguards in place, can have a detrimental effect on public safety and neighboring citizens.  The City Council finds and declares that the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens are promoted by requiring marijuana cultivators engaged in recreational and medicinal cultivation, drying, producing, processing, keeping, or storage of marijuana to ensure that said marijuana is not accessible, visible, or odorous to other persons or property, or otherwise illegal under Oregon state law.” 

            It says that everything to do with the production of marijuana, without certain “safeguards” can be “detrimental” to public safety and neighbors.  It doesn’t say how it “can be detrimental” or why.  The Council “finds and declares” that the “health, safety, and welfare of its citizens” are served by keeping all of these activities locked away, out of sight, and undetectable by odor, but it doesn’t say why, or what facts produced these findings.  We have the first indication of how unreasonable this ordinance is, in its lack of reasons.

            The public statements of reasons by the City Council, Manager, and Staff have revolved around skunky odor and theft, and odor as a cause of theft.  In an interview on Channel 12, Manager Aaron Cubic said the purpose is to prevent theft.

            This is a nuisance code and its stated purpose is curbing the attraction that marijuana has for thieves.  It is apparently an “attractive nuisance” code written to protect thieves from the impulse to steal this one product, although the words “theft” and “thieves” are nowhere in it.  Nor does it mention any offensiveness of odor, merely the detectable odor of marijuana.

Nuisance codes are normally written to protect children and idiots from hurting themselves on and in property like swimming pools, old refrigerators, and junk cars, not to protect thieves.  Cities don’t normally set standards for security of property from thieves. 

One doubts that these Councilors would do this regarding guns or alcohol, to name two other products stolen by thieves that should be kept from children.  They wouldn’t do this for any pleasure, hobby, or medicine of theirs.  The best thing to do about thieves is to punish them, not lock everything away.

            But that is only the publicly stated, readily apparent intent.  The real intent becomes obvious as one delves into its provisions, starting with Definitions.

“’Indoors/Indoor structure’ means a fully enclosed and secure structure that complies with the Oregon Residential Specialty Code (ORSC) or Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OSSC) as adopted by the City of Grants Pass, which has a complete roof enclosure supported by connecting walls extending from the foundation/slab to the roof.  The structure must be secure against unauthorized entry, accessible only through one or more locking doors, and constructed of solid materials that cannot easily be broken through, such as 2X4 or larger wood studs covered with 3/8” or thicker weather-resistant siding or equivalent materials.  Plastic sheeting, regardless of gauge, or similar products, do not satisfy this requirement.”

            It has to be built like a house or within a house, with no windows (glass would be breakable, and plastic is not allowed) and lockable doors.  This is why the Courier said that a greenhouse was not considered “indoors.”  By this definition, most any house would not be considered “indoors,” and few rooms within one would be either.

            What would be “indoors?” Let's Look at another definition with a strange meaning. 

“’Household’ means a housing unit, and includes any indoors structure or accessory dwelling unit in or around the housing unit at which the occupants of the housing unit are cultivating, drying, producing, processing, keeping or storing homegrown marijuana.”

            “Household” normally means the people within a housing unit.  The kind of “household” building that counts as “indoors” in this code is one constructed solidly to housing code, having no windows and lockable doors, a special growing room that must also encompass drying, trimming, cooking, and storage of up to 4 marijuana plants and their products.  It can be separate from the main house.

            One begins to see the real intent: keeping the poor from growing marijuana.  Building a special room inside or outside a house and buying a bunch of indoor growing equipment is prohibitively expensive for poor people, and impractical for the middle class and even the rich.  With the cost of permits, construction, equipment, and electricity, and the damage that growing indoors can do to a house, it would be cheaper and easier to buy one’s pot. 

            But the Council knows how stubborn pot users are about ignoring stupid, impractical, unreasonable laws, and how hard it is to get some people to pay attention to the news and their local governments.  They depend on these to be able to continue their war against pot smokers.

            There is another strange definition that fits this theory.  “’Marijuana cultivator’ means a medical marijuana grower, recreational marijuana homegrower, patient, and any landlord or property owner allowing marijuana to be cultivated, dried, produced, processed, kept or stored at a premises.” 

            This is an old drug war trick: chill the rights of renters, usually poor people, by making landlords liable for their actions.  It is used in the nuisance code against weeds and litter as well, though those codes are rarely enforced in Grants Pass.   The city could hold owners and landlords responsible without twisting the meaning of “cultivator,” but that would be too obvious.  People reading a law often pass over the definitions, expecting them to be common and obvious.  In this ordinance, one has to read them to understand it at all.

                   

September 20, 2015 protest leaflet.  Sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/grants-pass-city-manager-aaron-cubic-leave-pot-growers-alone-target-litter-and-weeds

Read Chapter 5.72 at http://gardengrantspass.blogspot.com/2015/09/chapter-572-homegrown-and-medical.html

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

Petition to Grants Pass City Manager Aaron Cubic, leaflet

Petition to Grants Pass City Manager Aaron Cubic

Leave marijuana growers alone; target litter and weeds

On July 1, the day that marijuana became legal to possess and grow in Oregon, I planted seeds in my greenhouse.  That evening, the Grants Pass City Council started to pass a nuisance code to ban outdoor marijuana in the city, and defining a greenhouse such that a greenhouse or sunroom would be out of compliance.  We would have to grow pot under lights, with fans and filters, or not at all.

They would force us to grow it only in our primary residence, in a highly secure grow room, not allowing any sight, sign or scent of marijuana growing, processing or storage outside of  that room—outside or inside our homes. 

They did this in the name of protecting thieves from their own worst impulses, under the theory that growing marijuana is an “attractive nuisance” to thieves.  Attractive nuisance statutes are usually written to protect children and idiots, who might get hurt by property such as swimming pools and junk refrigerators and cars.  This is the first one that I’ve seen written to protect thieves.

The smell of pot plants matters in this ordinance only as a sign of cultivation.  If anyone complains about the scent of skunk or cat urine, (in a city where skunks and cats run widely and stink often) undue traffic, excessive parking, excessive light, or excessive noise, cops can get a search warrant and snoop around our yard and inside our house to see if we are growing and if they can find any sign of it outside that grow room.  If they find such signs, they can eventually declare our property a nuisance and abate the nuisance, presumably by taking our plants, and fine us up to $720 per day of continuing violation.

They would never do this to themselves, their recreation, or their medicine, to protect thieves, idiots or children.  What business do they have, specifying our security measures, telling us how to protect our crops from thieves, in a manner which makes it impractical to grow the crop at all?  Do they do this against any other legal activity or product? 

We have real nuisances and proper nuisance codes against them, which are not enforced. Litter and seeding weeds bring down neighborhood property values; attract thieves, vagrants and vandals; make it harder to garden and maintain property; pop bike tires; make our town unattractive to orderly, respectable people; and make our people look lazy.  

You were told by your performance auditor that you need to enforce our landscape maintenance codes; that enforcement by complaint is not enforcement, is not fair to people who pay you to enforce the law, and does not work.  The city takes and ignores complaints until a property becomes a fire safety hazard, and then abates the nuisance at 20% over cost, profiting off of growing safety hazards while making us put up with continual nuisances.  It would be kinder to everyone and far safer to warn the residents and owners when the mess is small and easy to clean up and stop growing hazards to be harvested.

Please stay enforcement of the “Homegrownand Medical Marijuana” nuisance code Chapter 5.72 until its validity is fully litigated, and to actively enforce our litter and weed codes to start cleaning up this city and make it safer and easier to live in.

September 18, 2015 advisory petition, circulated at 6^th and G on Saturdays, 11:00-1:00.  Longer version online at Change.org, https://t.co/l7oJgGKeGc 

Follow @AnRycke on Twitter and GP Gardener on Facebook.  Support the lawsuit at GoFundMe.com/HomegrownDefense

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

CHAPTER 5.72: HOMEGROWN AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA

CHAPTER 5.72

HOMEGROWN AND MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Sections:

        5.72.010    Intent and Purpose

        5.72.020    Definitions

        5.72.030    Homegrown and Medical Marijuana Subject to Regulation

        5.72.040    Public Nuisance Remedy

        5.72.050    Violation

        5.72.060    Conflict of Laws

5.72.010 Intent and Purpose

The City Council of the City of Grants Pass recognizes that citizens of the state of Oregon may engage in both recreational and medical use of marijuana in accordance with State law.  However, the City Council also recognizes that cultivating, drying, producing, processing, keeping, or storage of marijuana, without appropriate safeguards in place, can have a detrimental effect on public safety and neighboring citizens.  The City Council finds and declares that the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens are promoted by requiring marijuana cultivators engaged in recreational and medicinal cultivation, drying, producing, processing, keeping, or storage of marijuana to ensure that said marijuana is not accessible, visible, or odorous to other persons or property, or otherwise illegal under Oregon state law.

5.72.020 Definitions:

“Homegrown Marijuana” means any marijuana cultivated, dried, produced, processed, kept, or stored for personal recreational use by a person 21 years of age or older in accordance with State law.

       

“Household” means a housing unit, and includes any indoors structure or accessory dwelling unit in or around the housing unit at which the occupants of the housing unit are cultivating, drying, producing, processing, keeping or storing homegrown marijuana.

       

“Housing Unit” means a house; a mobile home; a manufactured home; and/or a group of rooms that is occupied as separate living quarters, in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall, including an individual residential unit in an apartment, duplex, townhome, condominium, or senior living facility.

       

“Indoors/Indoor Structure” means within a fully enclosed and secure structure that complies with the Oregon Residential Specialty Code (ORSC) or Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OSSC) as adopted by the City of Grants Pass, which has a complete roof enclosure supported by connecting walls extending from the foundation/slab to the roof.  The structure must be secure against unauthorized entry, accessible only through one or more lockable doors, and constructed of solid materials that cannot easily be broken through, such as 2X4 or larger wood studs covered with 3/8” or thicker weather-resistant siding or equivalent materials.  Plastic sheeting, regardless of gauge, or similar products, do not satisfy this requirement.

       

“Marijuana” means all parts of the plant Cannabis Moraceae, including, but not limited to, its dried leaves and flowers, any marijuana products derived therefrom. (sic) The term includes any and all homegrown marijuana, medical marijuana, non-medical marijuana, and marijuana products defined in this section.

       

“Marijuana Cultivator” means a medical marijuana grower, recreational marijuana homegrower, patient, and any landlord or property owner allowing marijuana to be cultivated, dried, produced, processed, kept or stored at a premises. (sic)

       

“Medical Marijuana Grower” means any person engaged in the cultivation, drying, production, processing, keeping, or storage of medical marijuana in accordance with state law, and includes but is not limited to the meaning set out at OAR 333-008-0010(11)&(21).

       

“Patient” means a person who has been diagnosed by an attending physician with a debilitating medical condition and for whom the use of medical marijuana may mitigate the symptoms or effects of the person’s debilitating medical condition, and who has been issued a registry card by the Oregon Health Authority.

       

“Premises” means a household, medical marijuana grow site, homegrown marijuana grow site, and/or primary residence of a patient. 

       

“Property” means any home, business, or public right-of-way.

5.72.030 Homegrown and Medical Marijuana Subject to Regulation:

A.   Marijuana cultivators shall be allowed to cultivate, produce, or process homegrown marijuana and medical marijuana subject to the following conditions:

1.   Cultivation, production, processing or storage of marijuana must be in full compliance with all applicable provisions of OMMA and Measure 91.

2.   All cultivation, curing, drying, storage, production, or processing of marijuana shall be conducted indoors….

3.   Cultivation, production, processing or storage of marijuana shall not be perceptible from the exterior of the household, housing unit, and/or indoor structure including but not limited to:

a. Common visual observation, which would prohibit any form of signage;

b. Odors, smells, fragrances, or other olfactory stimulus;

c. Light pollution, glare or brightness that disturbs the repose of another;

d. Undue vehicular or foot traffic, including excess parking within a residential zone; and

e. Excessive noise that disturbs the repose of another in violation of GPMC

5.12.110.

4.  Cultivation, production, or processing of marijuana plants shall be within a secure, defined area;

5.  Cultivation, production, processing or possession of marijuana shall be within the requirements of all adopted building and life safety codes;

6.  Cultivation, production, or processing of marijuana shall meet the requirements of all adopted water and sewer regulations promulgated by the city and any special district having jurisdiction;

7.  Disposal of any excess or unused marijuana, marijuana products or any of the byproducts thereof shall meet any and all local and state requirements for disposal, and shall be disposed of in a secure fashion so as to avoid access by children, visitors and casual passersby, vandals, or anyone not licensed or authorized to possess medical or homegrown marijuana.

8.  Such cultivation, production, or processing of marijuana in a commercial or industrial structure, located in a commercial or industrial zone shall meet the following requirements:

a.   The use must be conducted indoors;

b.  The premises must not be vacant and there shall be an actual daily presence, use, and occupancy of the premises by an owner, tenant, employee or agent thereof.

9.  Such cultivation, production, or processing of marijuana in residential zones or in a housing unit shall meet the following requirements:

a.   Such cultivation, production, or processing of marijuana shall only be conducted within the primary residence of the marijuana cultivator;

b.  Marijuana plants shall not be cultivated, processed, or possessed in the common areas of a multi-family or attached residential development such as townhomes, apartments or condominiums.

c.   For purposes of this ordinance, “primary residence” means the place that a person, by custom and practice, makes his or her principle domicile, and address and (sic) to which the person intends to return, following any temporary absence, such as vacation.  Residence is evidenced by actual daily physical presence, use, and occupancy of the primary residence and the use of the residential address for domestic purposes, such as, but not limited to, slumber, preparation of and partaking of meals, regular mail delivery, vehicle and voter registration, or credit, water, and utility billing.  A person shall have only one primary residence, which may include an indoor structure or accessory dwelling unit, provided that the indoor structure or accessory dwelling unit is located on the same tax lot as the primary residence.

10.  For purposes of this ordinance, “a secure” area means an area within the primary residence or indoor structure accessible only to the patient or primary caregiver or marijuana cultivator.  Secure premises shall be locked or partitioned off to prevent access by minors, visitors, casual passersby, vandals, or anyone not licensed and authorized to possess medical or homegrown marijuana.

       

     B.  Licensed commercial grows, as defined in Measure 91, are prohibited in all residential zones.

5.72.040 Public Nuisance Remedy

     A.  Any household, housing unit, premises, property, building, structure, or place of any kind where medical or homegrown marijuana is grown, processed, manufactured, bartered, distributed, or given away in violation of state law or this chapter, or any place where medical or homegrown marijuana is kept or possessed for sale, barter, distribution, or gift in violation of state law or this chapter, is a public nuisance per Chapter 8.04.

B.   In addition to the foregoing, two or more violations in a 30-day period may be deemed a Chronic Nuisance Property subject to provisions of Chapter 5.12.

     C. In addition to any remedies provided in Chapter 5.12, the City may institute an action in municipal or circuit court in the name of the City to abate, and to temporarily and permanently enjoin such nuisance.  The court has the right to make temporary and final orders as in other injunction proceedings.  The City shall not be required to give bond for such action.

5.72.050 Violation

In addition to treatment as a nuisance, all violations of this title are subject to punishment under the general penalty provisions in Chapter 1.16. (sic--Actually Chapter 1.36)  Each day in which a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.

5.72.060 Conflict of laws

In the event of any conflict between this ordinance and the provisions of any applicable state or local law, the more restrictive provision shall control.

5.72.060 Severability

The sections, subsections, paragraphs, and clauses of this Ordinance are severable.  The validity of one section, subsection, paragraph, or clauses shall not affect the validity of the remaining sections, subsections, paragraphs, and clauses.

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