SAM Oregon

The Black Market is now the "Legal" Market

 As each legalization initiative hits the ballots you hear the same old lines from the proponents. One that I hear the most is that "Legalizing will eliminate the black market". But I can tell you right now that this claim is 100% false. And here is why.

A quick look at what Measure 91 allows for possession. Under Measure 91 you can now possess up to one ounce of dried flower in public. Not much different from the way the law was before Measure 91 with the exception of now you won't get a fine. You can now possess up to eight ounces of dried flower per household and grow up to four plants on your property out of the view of the public. You can now possess 72 ounces (just over half a gallon) of marijuana infused liquids, 1 pound of marijuana infused edibles and 1 fluid ounce of marijuana extract. With the exception of the one ounce of in public possession, all of this must be in your home.

If those amounts don't make you worried, here is why the black market is now protected under the Constitution of the United States. I'm sure you noticed the key words of "In your home" and "Out of view of the public"? The 4th Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees that anything out of the public view on private property is safe from searches without a search warrant. Now in order to obtain that search warrant the Law Enforcement Officer must provide "Probable Cause" that a crime is being committed or has been committed on the property and submit it to a judge to sign off on it. If you suspected a house in your neighborhood of dealing drugs you could the police and tell them that you believe they are selling drugs because you could smell Marijuana coming from the house or the yard if they were growing it themselves. Now the Police had Probable Cause for a search Warrant.

Now that Measure 91 has passed "The smell of Marijuana" is no longer Probable cause for Police to get a search Warrant. I have talked with several Police Officer and they all tried to give me a Probable cause other than the previously stated, such as looking at their utility bill. Well the Utility bill is also protected by the 4th Amendment, meaning that a Law Enforcement official would still need a search warrant to view it. Now that drug dealers are protected b the Constitution they can possess as much as they was of any of the above and there is nothing that a neighbor can do about it because again, "The smell of Marijuana" is no longer probable cause.