City Of Ashland Using Utility Bills To Profile Legal Pot Farmers
City of Ashland Profiling Legal Marijuana Farmers
Okay, so the title of this post was a little deceiving, but it got your attention, didn’t it? Ashland, Oregon hasn’t implemented any ordinances yet. They are talking about how they want to regulate marijuana, however. One ordinance they’re considering is banning high wattage lights (metal halides, high pressure sodium, ect.). The scary part is how they’re planning on enforcing their policies; Through profiling *LEGAL* marijuana farmers through the electric bill. When Oregon and Alaska legalized marijuana I warned them about over regulation. Here we can see the start of just that.
Yesterday I sat in on my first city council meeting. It was very interesting vetting Ashland City Council and trying to gauge their mindstate and attitude. When the video archive is live on the site, I’ll update this post with the link and time when the discussion on profiling pot farmers takes place.
Keep in mind, people. This is *JUST* what the City of Ashland is considering implementing as far as marijuana regulation. Expect Jackson County to be drafting their own policies. Salem will end up doing the same. By the time you compound all the various state, county and city regulations, the plant will hardly be legal anymore.
Reasons Behind High Wattage Grow Light Ban
I can see some merit in the cities reasoning. I don’t think it justifies the profiling that would occur. The City of Ashland would justify it because of the solar program they have. In their eyes, it would be “unfair” for growers to suck up all the tier-1 energy and force citizens into the tier-2 category. I don’t know enough about their solar program and electricity policy, but there might be other workarounds.
For example, what happens if a non pot farmer citizen uses too much electricity? What is the City of Ashland’s current approach for that? Do they have one? If they don’t, are they only going to target pot farmers, or anyone with excessive energy usage? What if someone has server racks in their house for mining bitcoins and other crypto-currency? What happens if a citizen is breeding lizards and requires a bunch of heat lights and rocks?
Or is it just pot farmers?
I plan on researching the City of Ashland’s solar program and the electrical utilities in general. I will amend this post at a later date (with video included). If there’s any additional information that should be included, it will be. I will also create follow-up posts as the City of Ashland continues their dialogue. I’ve got reasons to be incredibly involved with our local politics until some issues I’m caught up in get resolved. I will be playing policy watchdog to Ashland, Jackson County, and Oregon state in the meantime.