Another Oregon County Declares Emergency For Help With Illegal Cannabis Grows

A second Oregon county has declared a state of emergency for what officials described as a rampant, out-of-control surge in unlicensed cannabis farms this year. The illegal marijuana growing has become such a problem, that commissioners are asking for the National Guard’s help to control it.

Douglas County, population 110,000, followed neighboring Jackson County in petitioning Gov. Kate Brown to support its efforts. Jackson’s emergency declaration took place earlier this month.

County commissioner Tim Freeman said authorities have discovered over 300,000 illegal cannabis plants in Douglas County since the beginning of this year. For comparison’s sake, the entire state of Oregon regularly found about 100,000 plants per year before legalizing recreational cannabis in 2014.

Freeman said commissioners have long known of the problem. But push came to shove last month when police found a bootleg grow operation in the tiny town of Yoncalla with a whopping 150 greenhouses containing more than 49,000 live marijuana plants – an estimated street value of about $50 million. In the case of the Yoncalla bust and the vast majority of others in Oregon, illegal marijuana farmers claim to operate a hemp farm in which they’re growing and producing legal hemp products to sell at CBD stores.

But when deputies arrived at the Yoncalla operation, some four dozen workers allegedly began fleeing. Police ultimately arrested the farm’s manager, 44-year-old Jose Francisco Figueroa-Aguilar of Modesto, California, and charged him with Unlawful Possession and Unlawful Manufacture of Marijuana.

“People call and they’re scared,” Freeman said at the country’s most recent commission meeting. “They’re scared where they live, they’re afraid of what’s going on around them, in many cases they’re afraid to leave their homes.”

Freeman and fellow commissioner Chris Boice said the illegal grows can also promote extreme mistreatment of workers. The grows harm the environment when bootleg farmers use excess chemicals or even banned products to keep pests away.

The declaration, which takes effect this week, contends that a lack of state funding for law enforcement has allowed the illicit cannabis farms to manifest. It calls for extra funds to pay for additional sheriff’s deputies, local attorneys and code enforcement officers.