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The Jefferson Exchange

The Persistent Use Of Toxics In Illegal Pot Patches

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Mourad Gabriel helping clean up an illegal grow site.
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68908707

Growing cannabis is now legal in both California and Oregon, but that doesn't mean all the practices involved with growing it are legal. 

The black market stubbornly holds on, using farming methods that hurt the landscape and creatures living on it.  That includes the use of pesticides, some of which are highly toxic. 

The effort to curb the use of the pesticides has made unlikely bedfellows of the state of California and the federal government, which are usually of two minds about the legality of marijuana. 

Mourad Gabriel at the University of California-Davis researches the methods of cannabis farmers, including the regular use of toxics.  He visits with details of what's out there.  
 

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Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.