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 growing in the city, and defining "indoors" 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 ordinance doesn’t actually mention thieves or theft; its statement of intent only says that it will promote health, safety and welfare without saying why.  Its provisions are aimed mainly at preventing theft, though, and our City Manager and Attorney have said on the news, in newspapers and in public hearings that it was about preventing theft of pot.

The smell of pot plants only matters in this ordinance 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 your yard and inside your house to see if you are growing and if they can find any sign of it outside that very secure grow room.  If they find such signs, they can eventually declare your property a nuisance and abate the nuisance, presumably by taking your plants, and fine you 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, and 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.  Noxious weeds like goatheads (AKA puncture vine, bullheads, tack vine and names less printable) and star thistle grow all over town; vacant lots are full of such weeds and litter, as are many business properties.

The city was told last year by their performance auditor that they need to enforce their landscape maintenance codes; that enforcement by complaint is not enforcement, is not fair to people who pay them to enforce the law, and does not work.  The city takes and ignores complaints until a property becomes a fire safety hazard too big for easy cleanup, 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 for the city’s profit.

Please join me in asking City Manager Aaron Cubic to stay enforcement of the “Homegrown and 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.