In the state of Oregon, there is a glut of grass. A wealth of weed. A crisis of chronic. And, jokes aside, it's a real problem for people who work in the cannabis industry like Matt Ochoa. Ochoa runs the Jefferson Packing House in Medford, Oregon, which provides marijuana growers with services like drying, trimming and packing their product. He has seen literal tons of usable weed being left in marijuana fields all over the state of Oregon. Because, Ochoa says, there aren't enough buyers. There are just over four million people in Oregon, and so far this year, farmers have grown 8.8 million pounds of weed. Which means there's nearly a pound of dried, smokable weed for every single person in the state of Oregon. As a result, the sales price for legal marijuana in the last couple of years has plummeted. Economics has a straightforward solution for Oregon's overabundance problem: trade! But, Oregon's marijuana can only be sold in Oregon. No one in any state can legally sell weed across state lines, because marijuana is still illegal under federal law. On today's episode, how a product that is simultaneously legal and illegal can create some... sticky business problems. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Just a quick heads up.
This episode contains details about buying and selling marijuana.
This is planet money from NPR.
Do you want to put your pack in the bag?
Yeah.
A few weeks ago, Matt Achoa and I were driving around rural southern Oregon.
Matt's in his forties, kind of a burly guy, salt and pepper beard.
We're pulling into the farm right now.
And we're driving because he wants to show me something.
We'll have to go check in because he has to sign in and make sure you have id and all that.
I get through, check in.
Then we drive up a grassy hill and park right beside some giant marijuana plants.
These are not even big, big plants.
In Oregon's scope, I've seen plants 1217ft tall.
How tall is this?
How tall would you say that is?
Probably seven 8ft.
It's kind of like being at one of those giant corn mazes.
But instead of corn, it's all, where.
Are we right now in the harvest?