Dazed and Confused: Difficulties for Law Enforcement During Oregon’s Transition to a Legal Marijuana Market

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111221147697
• Author: Kris Henning,Mauri Matsuda,Greg Stewart
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Quarterly

2023, Vol. 26(4) 466–494

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111221147697

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Dazed and Confused:

Diff‌iculties for Law

Enforcement During Oregon’s

Transition to a Legal

Marijuana Market

Kris Henning

1

, Mauri Matsuda

1

, and Greg Stewart

1

Abstract

As more states legalize recreational cannabis, questions remain about the impact of this

transition for police who continue to be responsible for enforcing laws governing illicit

production and distribution of the drug, use of the substance in prohibited settings, and

possession by juveniles. Legalization may also lead to additional responsibilities, in-

cluding policing homegrown cannabis and licensed businesses involved in cultivating,

processing, and selling the drug. Documenting the experience of law enforcement

off‌icers in states that have already transitioned to a legal market may provide important

insights into the implementation of cannabis policies in other jurisdictions. The pre sent

study surveyed 301 law enforcement off‌icers in Oregon three years after the state

legalized recreational marijuana. Results indicate that off‌icers perceive increases in

many marijuana-related problems following legalization and most off‌icers report that

the state’s revised statutes are confusing and diff‌icult to enforce. Implications for public

policy are discussed.

Keywords

law enforcement, marijuana, drug policy, drug offenses, legalization

1

Portland State University, Portland, OR USA

Corresponding Author:

Kris Henning, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751,

Portland, OR 97201-0751, USA.

Email: khenning@pdx.edu

Introduction

The prior decade has witnessed a major evolution in the legal status of and public

perceptions about marijuana. Although it remains a Schedule I substance, considered

by the federal government without medical value and with high potential for abuse, the

majority of U.S. states have either permitted access to medical cannabis, decriminalized

personal possession, or legalized the cultivation and sale of the drug for recreational use

by adults (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2022). This stands in stark

contrast to the rhetoric and practice of the past f‌ifty years, when the War on Drugs

fueled a rise in drug-related arrests, prison admissions, and sentence lengths (Caulkins

& Chandler, 2006;National Research Council (NRC), 2014), with much of the focus on

controlling marijuana possession.

1

Despite billions of dollars directed toward this

strategy, there is limited evidence that it changed the price of marijuana, decreased its

availability, or resulted in fewer people using the substance (MacCoun & Reuter, 2011).

While the recent transition to a regulated recreational market in several states has

reduced arrests associated with this drug, legalization has raised other concerns for law

enforcement including increased use by juveniles, diversion across state borders, DUI,

and criminals targeting licensed cannabis businesses (Makin et al, 2019;Stohr et al.,

2020). Moreover, the job of enforcing cannabis prohibitions has become more

complicated in states that have legalized the substance. In prior times, possessing any

amount of marijuana in Oregon was a criminal offense or a civil infraction. Now

off‌icers might be expected to document how the substance was obtained (i.e., legally or

illegally), determine whether it was intended for medical or recreational purposes, note

where the person was located at the point of f‌irst contact (e.g., private property, public,

federal land), assess the THC content to differentiate marijuana from hemp, and

carefully measure the amounts involved and cross-check this against the legal

thresholds for different forms (e.g., dried leaf, liquid concentrate, consumable prod-

ucts). Legalization of recreational cannabis presents new issues for law enforcement,

therefore, some of which may not be fully appreciated until the governing policies are

put to the test in the f‌ield. Documenting implementation challenges in “early adopter”

states may benef‌it other jurisdictions as they revise their policies governing cannabis.

The current study does this by surveying 301 law enforcement personnel in Oregon

following the opening of a recreational cannabis market in 2016.

Legalization

Cannabis liberalization in the U.S. has proceeded along three routes. In 1973, Oregon,

followed by about a dozen other states, decriminalized possession of small quantities of

marijuana. In 1996, California, followed by Oregon and 35 other states, initiated a

medical cannabis program. Starting in 2012, Washington and Colorado were the f‌irst

states to legalize the production and commercial sale of cannabis for adult recreational

use. Seventeen states have followed suit in the subsequent decade, including Oregon in

2014 (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2022).

Henning et al. 467