Wallowa County Commissioners are moving forward with plans to opt out of Measure 91, the recently passed state law legalizing retail marijuana. Public ordinance hearings have been tentatively planned for 10 a.m. Nov. 24 and 10 a.m. Dec. 7 at the County Courthouse. The finalized times will be published.

At the regular Monday meeting on Nov. 2, commissioners heard comments from the public and from law enforcement, the theme of which was a feeling that the state had “gotten the cart before the horse,” as Wallowa City Mayor Vicki Knifong put it.

“The scary part about the whole thing is that the rules are still up in the air and the opt out is our safest way to go,” said Wallowa County District Attorney Mona Williams.

Wallowa County is eligible to opt out in the first place because 61 percent of voters did not approve Measure 91 — a point not lost on any of the county officials.

“I don’t believe that retail marijuana business is consistent with our way of life and community,” Williams said. “Wallowa County voted no. I don’t think we should be promoting this.”

Joseph Mayor Dennis Sands pointed out that it was much easier to say no first and change at a later date if need be.

“If you want to say no, it’s easier to relax the rules at a later date,” he said. “If you say yes, it’s hard to go back on that.”

Sands said the city of Joseph is entertaining the possibility of opting out as well. Joseph leaders already have written an ordinance that prevents the sale of marijuana within 1,000 feet of places where children would gather, but may now add the opt out as a more simple solution, he said.

Commissioner Mike Hayward understood the concern. “With an ordinance someone is going to going around with a 1,000-foot tape measure and it could be a real pain in the neck,” he said.

Although some conversation took place on the subject of potential tax earnings, it was agreed that there just wasn’t sufficient evidence one way or the other to make a decision based on potential income.

Of more concern to law enforcement was the complication of enforcing current laws.

“These are very sketchy,” Williams said. “I think just dealing with it would be very, very hard to do.”

In the meantime, noted Sheriff Steve Rogers: “Greenhouses are going up — big ones. It’s already happening; people are growing.”

He recounted a recent event, in which he was out deer hunting and looked through his scope at what appeared to be a large grow. A subsequent investigation revealed that what he had spotted was a legal grow, a “stack” of plants grown for eight different medical marijuana card-holders on the property of one individual.

“That’s legal,” Rogers said. “And I’m very limited with what I can ask. I can find out if an individual has a medical permit; that’s it.”

To complicate the matter, Rogers said, after years of arresting and prosecuting individuals for marijuana use or growth, he may now be called to pursue an investigation into theft of marijuana, the cultivation of which is still illegal according to federal law.

“I can assure you this isn’t going to be easier — it’s going to be harder,” he said. “Until things are clear, we don’t want to try to deal with it.”

The prosecution of illegal grows will continue, he said. But determining whether or not a driver is under the influence is going to be very difficult. Although the state of Washington is developing methods for determining whether or not a person should be charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants, those methods have not yet been established in Oregon, he said.

“You can’t force someone to pee in a bottle,” Rogers said. “You can’t squeeze somebody hard enough to get pee in a bottle. Proving a DUII is going to be a nightmare.”

If Wallowa County opts out, it would not affect an individual’s right to purchase, grow or use marijuana as outlined by state law, nor does it affect the right of medical marijuana card-holders to grow and use the product.

“The practical nature of it is you won’t have storefront operations,” said Commissioner Hayward. “You will still have things going on out in the county.”