cannabisnews.com: Oregon MMJ Finds Out-of-State Customers
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Oregon MMJ Finds Out-of-State Customers
Posted by CN Staff on July 06, 2012 at 05:22:29 PT
By Nigel Duara, The Associated Press
Source: Associated Press
On The Oregon - Idaho Border -- Hurtling down I-84 with a bag of medical marijuana and no legal right to possess it, the 23-year-old Idaho man with the crooked grin drove out of Oregon, making a break for home.But he was soon glancing at his rearview mirror as it filled with blue bursts from a cruiser’s lights. He pulled over, studying his rearview, and watched as a very big Idaho State Police officer wearing a black Stetson walked his way.
The trooper said he smelled pot. The young man thought about lying, but didn’t. He stepped out of the car, accepted a pat-down and a ticket and was sent on his way.David Kosmecki was on the same trip dozens of others make on this hilly spit of four-lane asphalt every week, leaving Idaho to buy medical marijuana in Oregon. Police argue the number of travelers is more likely in the hundreds.Even in Oregon, Kosmecki doesn’t have legal access to pot, but a friend does, one who strolled into a border marijuana co-op and walked out with an ounce of Hindu Kush. In his home city of Kuna, Idaho, marijuana costs Kosmecki $300 per ounce and the quality is iffy. In Oregon, he gets high-quality, sticky bud every time, and it’s $60 cheaper.More than a decade ago, voters made medical marijuana legal in Oregon, which critics say sent plentiful supplies into markets gray and black. They added a quirk unique to Oregon’s law: Out-of-staters can get in-state pot cards, too, as long as they have an Oregon doctor’s signature. Across the border in Idaho, simple possession can mean a trip to jail.The difference creates a kind of tectonic fault line where the states meet. At the epicenter of where it might break loose is Trooper Justin Klitch of the Idaho State Police.Klitch, the trooper who arrested Kosmecki, is a six-year veteran. His father served 30 years in the state police and his grandfather was a city cop in Ohio. Klitch tried to leave Idaho and avoid law enforcement, first in Alaska and then in Puerto Rico. He saw the toll of the job etched on his father’s face. But home beckoned.He applied to other places, but turned down job after job. Finally, the Idaho State Police called.Now, he has a month-old son of his own. He has earned professional accolades for making more DUI stops than any other trooper, and he prefers that to pot busts at the state line — drunks kill people, he said. “I’d take a drunk over a pound of dope any day of the week,” Klitch said.But pot possession is often what Klitch finds.Forty percent of pot seizures in Idaho came from Oregon medical marijuana, according to Idaho State Police records. In Klitch’s sector along the border, it was 53 percent.Officially, only 196 people in Idaho have medical marijuana cards from Oregon, and their best hope for purchasing the drug is Bill Esbensen.Esbensen and three co-founders opened the 45th Parallel marijuana cooperative in 2010, and its location in Ontario, Ore. about 5 miles from the border isn’t a coincidence. Esbensen said he knows people from Idaho, Utah and Nevada need medical marijuana.“We have oncologists all over the state of Idaho and other states sending patients to our clinic,” Esbensen said. “They’re afraid to speak out in their state, but they’re willing to send them over here.”Eastern Oregon is not a traditional fit for a medical marijuana cooperative. Hours from Portland and sparsely populated, the eastern third of the state is part of one massive Congressional district, the only one in Oregon where Republicans outnumber Democrats.Kosmecki, the 23-year-old arrested in Idaho, said his friend got his marijuana from Esbensen’s establishment. While not surprised, Esbensen said there’s nothing he can do about it. He compares his operation to a pharmacy. Once the prescription drugs go out the door, he has no further control.Esbensen said he has raised two daughters, each in college, and sold a successful car dealership. With enough money to leave, Esbensen could relocate to a place friendlier to his lifestyle. But that, he says, would violate the trust he’s established in the area, leaving behind hundreds of people who rely on him for marijuana. He, like Klitch, is rooted here out of a sense of obligation to his family and his professional practice.Now, he devotes all of his time to the clinic.He said he knows of people who have moved to Oregon, just to make sure they’re following the law. He also knows of several Idaho patients who regularly make what can be a harrowing journey across the border and back.People like Kendall Jeffs.When Klitch, the state trooper, looks for signs a driver is concealing something, he checks for sweaty palms, visibly-thumping heart, thrumming carotid artery.Jeffs, 41, would be an easy mark. “I just tighten up,” she says, and indeed as the Idaho border approaches on I-84, her hands grip the steering wheel tighter. She breathes faster. Her toes curl. Her eyes widen.Jeffs won’t say how often she makes this run, nor will she reveal the route she typically uses. But traveling back from the 45th Parallel to her family farm in Idaho, she’s visibly shaking.This, she says, happens every time.Jeffs said she is a recovering addict, mostly meth. While atop a moving onion harvester a year after getting clean, her hand caught in a weed. The weed yanked her arm into the gears, severing two fingers. She got one finger sewed back.Marijuana is the only way she says she can treat the pain from her missing finger, she said. She picks at her hand often when she’s nervous.Klitch, the state trooper, makes her very nervous.She’s been stopped by him before, though her boyfriend took the charges of marijuana and paraphernalia possession. She herself is facing marijuana charges, for a home search she said was illegal. She knows Klitch is somewhere close, and thinks about him every time she crosses back into her home state. “It’s like crossing the Berlin Wall,” she said of the trip. “It’s like going into another country.”She realizes she could move to Oregon, but like Klitch and Esbensen, she is tied to the land, an area her family has farmed for 100 years. On 5,000 acres they grow sugar beets and alfalfa and kidney beans. Leaving Idaho, even just across the border, would mean leaving her father and brothers and son, who all work the farm.Oregon’s medical marijuana law touches each of them — cop, cooperative owner, cardholders and other users — pushing them toward the border and two very different views of what is legal. Their ties to this expanse of sand dunes and sagebrush split by the Snake River make it unlikely they’ll leave. “It seems sad,” Jeffs said. “I’ll never leave Idaho. It’s in my blood, but it’s not safe for me here.”Source: Associated Press (Wire)Author: Nigel Duara, The Associated Press Published: July 6, 2012Copyright: 2012 The Associated PressCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on July 10, 2012 at 05:37:27 PT
Had Enough
What a wonderful post. I am glad to read the whole thing and keep on jammin. Music is good for the soul. We have tickets to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse this Fall in Pittsburgh. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - This Land Is Your Land:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy-aGEqGwtI
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #14 posted by Had Enough on July 09, 2012 at 23:24:03 PT
Things...
I remember sharing my experiences with ‘Ya’ll’...It feels good that somebody remembers things like that...Hope...the wide open seas are beautiful...however one must respect it...if you don’t...it will turn into disaster...if you respect it though...you will experience things our creator bestowed upon us to not only enjoy...but to experience and learn...I feel honored that my words typed on this plastic keyboard brought you some insight to things you might not have understood...“”Princess Brides””...I sure do miss her...she left out of this world with a piece of my heart...I’m realizing now that I will probably never get over it...but learning to get used to it...The latest ‘Black German Shepherd’ was a therapy dog for her...now she is my therapy dog...and boy is she ever a beauty...very smart...and she teases me all the time...too cool...what a personality she has...and just loves to go out for walks and rides with me and whatnot...I tease her back all the time...I refer to her as a “Monster”...and she even responds to that too...very cool...Back in the 60’s we used to have these things called ‘rap sessions’...people would just gather and hang out...talk...play and listen to music...this place is the closest that I’ve seen since those days...and I thank both Hope & FoM...for carrying on the tradition...along with the others that hangout here...I’ve been watching this place...but haven’t posted much lately...I’m sure you understand...Hey museman...I’ve been jammin’ again...some...It’s been awhile since I’ve done that...some of my friends and my sons keep telling me to just go do it...so I did it and I’ve been goin’ up to a place that has Jam Nights on Wednesday...been having a lot of release playing on stage and watching people enjoy it...and boy let me tell you...there are some good pickers, drummers, singers...and windblown instrument players hangin’ out up there...watching people enjoy your music is a very-very special buzz of it’s own...as you well know...************Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart (1969) Frankfurt, Germany http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2x1yo8Ztdw&feature=related
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #13 posted by FoM on July 09, 2012 at 11:23:18 PT
Hope
I agree with you.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #12 posted by Hope on July 09, 2012 at 10:13:02 PT
Had Enough
You remind me of the ocean, and Princess Brides, and loving, smart, black German shepherds. And music.You remind me of love and surviving and power. And music.You remind of the ocean in a good way. Somehow you make it less fearsome. I think maybe you got me to see it a little through your eyes. Sweet.It is, as always, wonderful to see you posting.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #11 posted by Hope on July 09, 2012 at 10:07:09 PT
:0)
Maybe my favorite story ever on C-News was your horrendous boat adventure. For someone that prefers to stay off the ocean... I loved that story.I pray you're thriving.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by Hope on July 09, 2012 at 10:05:14 PT
Had Enough
:0)
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #9 posted by FoM on July 09, 2012 at 08:30:06 PT
Had Enough
I'm still around too and still thinkin. I think we are well on our way to change so news is almost not new anymore. Most of us are ok with the direction we are going and in time it will be all over and the work will be done.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by Had Enough on July 09, 2012 at 08:09:43 PT
Still Thinkin'
Thanks FoM...I'm still around...
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #7 posted by FoM on July 09, 2012 at 06:08:06 PT
Had Enough
It is wonderful to see you!!!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #6 posted by Had Enough on July 08, 2012 at 23:58:45 PT
And...
And...Prohibitionists...enough of the bricks...We don’t need your type of education...And since we are all children of the Great Spirit/Sun...We don’t need/want your type of education...************Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall(Live)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZbM_MIz4RM
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by Had Enough on July 08, 2012 at 23:31:18 PT
Prohibitionists....Again...
Just in case the prior version was not enough...Here is a version with more delight to it...Get a clue...for the sake of Mankind...all of Mankind...Peace to all that seek it...and especially to those that don’t...Peace...************Wish you were herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAchKt2xjsw
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by Had Enough on July 08, 2012 at 23:03:29 PT
Prohibitionists ...
Listen up...This one goes out to you...we wish you were here ...We wish you were here...with us in our thoughts...words...and deeds...************David Gilmour - Wish You Were Here (Live HD) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiDf43mVNWc&feature=related
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by museman on July 07, 2012 at 10:39:10 PT
that's nice, but
We're talking about a handful of 'entrepreneurs'(or carpet-baggers)who sold their scruples along with their weed.Too bad for the cannabis users since the quality of most of that pot (grown for yield, and profit not quality, or with concern for the sacredness of both the medicine, and the growing of it) is in question.Too bad for the many card holders here in Oregon who are screwed because someone with money, land or resource are the only ones getting to take advantage of this, -and I have heard many stories of card holders not even being able to find a provider. -or herb!Yet, for example, I have a neighbor who rented a rural property, then came in with a bulldozer and backhoe, accompanied by a semi flatbed truck loaded with fertilizers (and not organic either), they obviously had connections, because in two days several weeks ago (when it finally stopped raining) an entire plantation of 5 -foot plants miraculously appeared!)These people are so obviously in it for the money, and I think it kind of fishy that they did this right after our county voted out the sheriff. They actually look and feel like cops themselves!And man, talk about unfriendly.These are the problem growers here in Oregon.But if there was a legal outlet, like dispensaries, then with some quality control in place, these exploiters wouldn't have the upper hand in our cannabis culture here in Oregon, and even the small growers could benefit, as well as any card holder.Of course, as long as cannabis is illegal in any way-particularly in a neighboring state such as Idaho, the price on the other side of the line will be worth the attempt to those who want to try the gamble.OCTA may be a solution.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #2 posted by ripit on July 07, 2012 at 10:14:04 PT
i can't afford
to run next door (oregan) an i can't just up and leave.i don't want to up and sell my home or move just to get medicine! been living in idaho almost all of my life.have been thinking about moving just over the state line in ore because i see no solution for me to obtain any but have never thought about just driving up and back to get a card, couldn't affored it anyway! dead broke an can't even buy gas to go see my new grandson let alone run that far for something i could and should be able to grow myself .
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on July 06, 2012 at 12:25:44 PT
Oregon MMJ Finds Out-of-State Customers
And the sky is still blue,water is still wet and the earth is still round.So, what else is news?
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