Living conditions at an unlicensed Oregon marijuana operation. In the center lies the remains of a pig carcass workers had been carving for food.

The legalization of recreational marijuana in Oregon has generated millions of dollars in tax revenue for the state, but rather than curtailing the black market trade as was promised it has spurred the production of illegal weed across the state.

That, in turn, has caused untold problems for honest landowners and unwitting foreign workers pressed to tend the crops.

The state has failed in its obligation to stem the flow of illegal marijuana and to protect the people of Oregon against the ravages of that trade.

The burgeoning illicit marijuana industry has had devastating impacts on rural Oregon and agriculture. Illegal marijuana growers have stolen water, polluted the land and water, violated land use laws, driven up farmland prices, caused labor problems and endangered citizens.

Although new state laws and added funding are helping law enforcement officers deal with the issues, farmers and community leaders say more still needs to be done.

Eight years ago, when voters approved an initiative that legalized the regulated production, sale and possession of marijuana, it was sold as a win-win situation.

The state was to get millions in new tax revenue to pay for education, mental health, alcoholism and drug services, the state police and drug treatment. Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, an intense regulatory and licensing regime was supposed to keep “legal” marijuana out of black market distribution channels and stepped up enforcement would check the state’s robust illicit marijuana production.

Only part of that scenario has come true.

Revenue projections have exceeded supporters’ wildest dreams as legal sales have topped $1.1 billion per year.

In fiscal 2016, the state collected $20.6 million in taxes from the fledgling legal industry, according to the Oregon Department of Revenue. For fiscal 2021, which ended in October, the state raked in more than $178 million. Cities and counties that have imposed their own taxes reaped more than $28 million from the “legal” drug trade during the same period.

Yet, the illicit trade continues to boom. Law enforcement sources say the value of illegal weed — grown in many cases by foreign drug cartels — far exceeds that produced by regulated growers. During raids in 2021 alone, according to public records, Southern Oregon officials across four counties — Jackson, Douglas, Klamath and Josephine — seized pot exceeding $2.7 billion in value.

Criminal growers are stealing water, infringing on the rights of farmers who produce legitimate crops. Unfettered by environmental regulations and good stewardship practices, they lay on fertilizers and pesticides without regard to the potential ecological damage.

They have held foreign workers impressed to tend the crop in virtual slavery. Local property owners have been threatened and are wary of sharing information with police.

Police and the regulatory agencies are overwhelmed.

We agree that the federal government needs to step up its enforcement efforts. But the state of Oregon needs to devote more of its “legal” marijuana profits towards regulatory and law enforcement.

It’s time for the state to fulfill its obligation to protect the people of Oregon.