Outdated laws hinder Oregon newspapers

This Monday, the Advocate staff was greeted by a newspaper slipped under our door. It was the Clackamas Print’s weed edition (the Print is the student newspaper for Clackamas Community College), and scrawled on the top was the note, “Will you print an article about this. My opinion this is not ok. this is the complete paper.”

If only the messenger had seen our 4/20 issue last year.

First off, the Advocate encourages letters-to-the-editor from students, staff, and community members so, if you feel that strongly, please, why don’t you submit an article?

The second thing that came up was our own pot issue, which is admittedly a page taken from Willamette Weekly’s book, since most of our staff would count that publication as an influence.

That annual weed issue has been getting closer and closer, and the same problem we had with it at the beginning of the year is still here: You cannot legally mail a publication with an ad for marijuana in it through the U.S. Postal Service. Whether the USPS will enforce it or not is a different matter (they haven’t, yet), but the stated law is still in place.

And the Advocate does mail several dozen copies of our issue to other community colleges, local high schools and other readers each week – more than 2,500 copies each school year.

What’s wrong, Uncle Sam? Our money is just as green as our weed, and last we heard the Postal Service wasn’t doing so hot. It makes sense that the USPS would have this stipulation, since they’re the quasi-public extension of the federal government, but how much thought actually went into this? Dispensaries are a thriving business in Oregon, and the federal government clearly hasn’t ousted any of those lately.

To quote (out of context) MHCC speech instructor Shannon Valdivia, “Silence is consent.”

This law doesn’t accomplish anything except to puke out more red tape for the Postal Service and the marijuana business, which the constituents of Oregon have agreed that we definitely want.

And, at a more immediate level, this law severely hinders the production of our paper. The last three years in a row, the Advocate has taken a budget cut, and next year it will be even higher – around 15 percent reduction in Mt. Hood’s student activities funding. The 4/20 issue was supposed to be our cash cow – dispensaries would love to advertise in a special cannabis edition of a community college newspaper.

Now we’re forced to choose between no ads, or no mail? Granted, since no one really enforces it until a complaint is filed, we’re not facing that stark of an ultimatum, but if any newspaper should be as compliant with the law as possible, wouldn’t it be one funded by the school system?

Let’s get with the program, feds. Oregon likes weed and the U.S. loves capitalism, so, why is this still a problem?