Rainbow Family gathering in Oregon has clouds on horizon with fed-state marijuana conflicts

6y
2m read
Summary

The Rainbow Family gathering began in 1972 and occurs each year in a different national forest. The Forest Service instead created a guide listing regulations and shared it with the Rainbow Family group while making it clear the agency will enforce its provisions. As of Tuesday, about 2,700 early birds had shown up for the Rainbow Family gathering that runs from July 1 to July 7, said Kyle Johnson, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman. Eight arrests have been made and nearly 50 people have received violation notices, the Forest Service said. The gathering takes place on federal forest land in Grant County, a remote area with just 7,500 people.

Article Preview

PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. government has sent federal prosecutors to a “pop-up” court in eastern Oregon to process citations against people attending a massive counterculture peace gathering on public land that could draw up to 20,000 people.

Several assistant U.S. attorneys are staffing a makeshift office within walking distance of the festival in Malheur National Forest, said Kevin Sonoff, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Oregon.

Those who don’t want to negotiate a deal with prosecutors can appear before a federal judge by satellite, he said.

The court was in session Tuesday and will be running again on Friday....

Read the full article @ The Cannabist