Illegal pot operations in Oregon’s county trigger emergency declaration

Jackson County in Oregon was forced to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday as the area had recorded a sharp increase in the number and size of illegal marijuana farms, according to US media reports. The county also reached out for assistance from Oregon’s legislative bodies and Governor Kate Brown, a member of the Democratic party.

Oregon law enforcement officials, code enforcers and state regulators had been overwhelmed and warned of an “imminent threat to the public health and safety of our citizens from the illegal production of cannabis in our county”, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners said, according to reports from Associated Press.

Illegal marijuana growth has been a persistent problem throughout the West, even in states like California that have legalized pot.

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A megadrought across the West has created urgency, though, as illegal growers steal water, depriving legal users including farmers and homeowners of the increasingly precious resource.

“Jackson County strongly requests your assistance to address this emergency,” the commissioners said in a letter to Governor Kate Brown, Senate President Peter Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek.

Only four Oregon Water Resources Department full-time employees handle complaints and perform all of their other duties in Jackson County and neighboring Josephine County, the commissioners said.

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Illegal plantations have drained groundwater in Josephine County. Dave Daniel, a county official, believes that there are hundreds of illegal operations in his area alone. 

One with 72,000 marijuana plants that were drawing water from the Illinois River was raided after a dying person who worked there was dropped off in a nearby village.

By September of this year, the Jackson County Code Enforcement Division initiated almost 700 cases of code violations related to marijuana production or processing, more than double the number in all of 2016, the commissioners said in their emergency declaration.

(With AP inputs)