Marijuana plants in a greenhouse on a Mulino cannabis farm. (Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

Jim and Kevin Fisher grew up on an apple farm in upstate New York. By the time the brothers were teenagers, they were regularly tending and harvesting the orchard, planting and pruning thousands of trees and watching how their parents managed the business.

Whenever the brothers had the chance, they'd smoke weed from pipes they carved out of apples and dream about moving out West and becoming musicians.

Today, the brothers are drawing on the lessons of their upbringing to navigate Oregon's increasingly competitive and oversupplied market for marijuana, three years into the state's experiment with legalization.

For the July 1 anniversary of when it became legal to grow and possess the plant, The Oregonian/OregonLive interviewed a range of people who have seen its effects.

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Jim and Kevin Fisher stand in one of their greenhouses on their cannabis farm. (Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

Adult marijuana use is up measurably, according to surveys. Still, the latest data show the overwhelming majority of Oregon adults didn't touch marijuana in the past month. (The same cannot be said for alcohol.)

There have been elevated numbers of cannabis-related poison center calls, emergency room visits and impaired driving incidents that have concerned state officials. But in a broader context, those numbers remain a relatively small component of all poisonings, ER visits and impaired driving cases.

And teen usage has changed little, surveys show, although public health officials caution that it's too soon to judge legalization's lasting social and health impacts.

Meanwhile, the market is so flush with extra weed that the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has put a temporary moratorium on grow licenses. Black market sales, concerns about potency and worries about big companies edging out local producers are universal for supporters and critics of the industry.

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Marijuana plants on a Mulino cannabis farm. (Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

The Fisher brothers, who own and operate a Mulino cannabis farm and a Portland dispensary, said they've had to adjust the amount of the crop they're growing this year and won't plant half of their eight greenhouses.

"We know how much we can sell through the dispensary. There's no point in contributing to the oversupply," Kevin Fisher said.

But they remain upbeat about the work they get to do. Thanks to legalization, their livelihood, which was once a contentious pastime, is becoming more accepted.

"People now feel comfortable to talk about cannabis and ask questions about it, whereas before they may have viewed it as taboo and maybe not even want to have a conversation about it," Jim said.

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Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Adult and teen use of marijuana

The National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health asks Americans what kinds of substances they consumed in the past month.

For the United States, marijuana use among adults barely budged from 2014-15 to 2015-16. But in Oregon, which already has much more widespread use than the national average, the survey detected a statistically significant increase after legalization.

The good news is teen marijuana use hasn't gone up.

The numbers have changed barely at all since legalization, according to the voluntary Oregon Healthy Teens survey conducted by the Oregon Health Authority every odd-numbered year. The state data match results from the national survey on drug use.

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Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive

"We haven't seen a big increase in youth use like we worried we would," said Julia Dilley, an epidemiologist for Multnomah County and the Oregon Health Department. "However, it is too early to tell in the long term what the effects are for youth."

Dr. Thomas Jeanne from the Oregon Health Authority said these numbers represent the department's efforts to limit teen usage and promote preventative programs. The data serves to benefit schools, policy makers and organizations devoted to preventing youth marijuana use.

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Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Over-ingestion, DUII and failed drug tests

When someone over-ingests marijuana, it will usually lead to a call to the Oregon Poison Center or a trip to an emergency room. Both have increased since legalization.

Dr. Matt Noble from the poison center said there are two types of problems.

Intentional exposure happens when an adult consumes an edible but doesn't pay attention to its potency and ends up experiencing the unintended consequences, Noble said. That can happen with novice users who are unsure of the proper dose to consume.

Unintended exposures generally happen when children find a marijuana product, usually an edible and most likely at home. That's especially an issue with toddlers who have an affinity for putting anything within arm's reach in their mouths, Noble said.

"Anyone with children should really take steps to secure products," he said. "There's no excuse for these unintentional consequences."

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Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive

There's been an increase in ER visits since October 2015, however, the Oregon Health Authority didn't have information on visits for marijuana-related reasons pre-legalization.

After an initial burst upon legalization, the numbers of over-ingestion have dropped off but are still above pre-legalization levels. While this increase has been concerning, Noble said he wouldn't be surprised if the numbers continue to stabilize as people learn how to properly consume marijuana and the novelty wears off.

To put the numbers in perspective, meanwhile, over-ingestion of marijuana has never exceeded 1 percent of all ER visits.

Arrests for marijuana-impaired driving, another concern that opponents raised during the legalization campaign, also are up.

Sgt. Evan Sether, state coordinator of the Oregon Drug Evaluation and Classification Program, said legalization has created a new burden for state police.

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Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive

"Increased marijuana use is a major concern of mine in terms of resources and the job I have to do," Sether said. "It has been a strain on the impaired driving program."

Positive lab tests for cannabis among drivers pulled over by state police totaled about 1,000 in 2016. Another 1,000 were considered impaired without a lab test. By comparison, more than 10,000 drivers had a blood alcohol level over the legal limit that year.

But Sether said data are likely to understate the actual number of drivers impaired by marijuana. For example, he noted that people who fail a blood alcohol test aren't tested for marijuana.

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Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Some employers in the state are struggling to fill job vacancies thanks to drug test failures, according to Gail Krumenauer, an economic analyst with the Oregon Employment Department.

The state's annual survey of employers has asked since 2013, "Do you have difficulty filling vacancies, if so why?"

Some responses, Krumenauer said, cite failing a drug test as a reason for a job vacancy. These accounted for 4 percent of vacancies listed as difficult to fill, or 1,600 out of 38,700 vacancies in 2017, up from roughly 2 percent in each of the previous years.

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Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Dr. Barry Sample, a toxicologist and senior director of science and technology for Quest Diagnostics, confirmed that finding.

He said Quest has administered an average of 50,000 drug tests a year for the Oregon employers.

"Some are finding it more difficult to find workers that can pass a drug test," Sample said.

Quest data show that Oregon job applicants and workers subject to ongoing drug-testing are failing at steadily higher rates, at a time when the national fail rate has grown more slowly.

Surprisingly, Sample said most Oregon businesses that test for cannabis haven't stopped testing for cannabis. He said the same is true for Colorado and Washington, which also legalized the product.

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Hundreds marched in Portland's 17th annual Global Cannabis March, May 7, 2016 through downtown Portland. (Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

What comes next

One thing opponents and supporters of legal weed agree on is the need to monitor and regulate cannabis, particularly its potency and the way the product is advertised.

Edibles and concentrates are the products of biggest concern for many people.

Kevin Sabet, the president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said there's a big risk to adults and kids in the high-potency cannabis being manufactured today.

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Stoney Brothers is the first unionized marijuana dispensary in Oregon. (George Rede | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

"In terms of awareness, we need to educate the people that this is not your Woodstock weed," said Sabet, whose organization opposes legalization. "It can heavily damage you and you can go to the hospital."

He'd also like to see bans on advertising and clearer disclosures in product packaging. Sabet said marijuana is being heavily advertised, marketed and commercialized while the industry makes large profits, just like Big Tobacco.

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AmeriCanna RX is a marijuana dispensary in Portland and was one of a handful of dispensaries that opened its doors to recreational sales at midnight, October 1, 2015 (Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

David McNicoll, president of the Oregon Responsible Edible Council, agrees potency and safe consumption need to be addressed.

His group created the "Try 5" campaign to encourage responsible consumption of edibles and to educate novel customers on understanding serving sizes.

McNicoll, who owns the edible company, Dave's Space Cakes, said the campaign encourages people, especially first timers, to try 5 milligrams of THC at a time.

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The Analog Cafe & Theater has Free Marijuana Mondays every week with a different medical marijuana dispensary sponsoring the freebies. (Stephanie Yao Long)

"What the campaign really did was start a conversation about, 'What are edibles?' 'What is THC?' 'What does 5 milligrams even mean?'" McNicoll said. "When we first put out the campaign, education and awareness was really low. I am shocked and beyond excited as to how the education has changed and how it has been really effective in Oregon."

In 2016, Oregon Health Authority rules committee approved a limit on how much THC can be in a serving. The rule calls for 5 milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams an edible package.

McNicoll, who was originally against the cap, now thinks it's a good idea and a benefit to edible consumers.

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AmeriCanna RX, a marijuana dispensary in Northeast Portland was one of a handful of dispensaries that opened its doors to recreational sales at midnight, October 1, 2015 (Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

McNicoll said he's also concerned about unintentional exposure among young children and plans to launch an awareness campaign promoting safe storage of edibles at home.

State officials also are working to promote smart edible consumption among adults following the lead of other states. In Colorado, the state's health department created the "start low, go slow" campaign. In Alaska, the "it's not grandma's brownies" campaign is a partnership between the health department and local dispensaries to educate people on the stronger potency of today's marijuana.

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Clerks and staff on the Senate floor read a 51-page marijuana bill Feb. 19, 2016. Sen. Alan Olsen, R-Canby, is seated at left. (Denis C. Theriault)

On the production side, critics and supporters of legalization also agree the issue of over-production needs to be addressed.

As of June 8, the state marijuana regulators had issued 1,913 licenses to grow. However, due to the surplus of marijuana on the market and a backlog of applications for licenses, the liquor control commission announced in a May press release that it would pause processing any applications after June 15.

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A large gathering was held at the Burnside Bridge as recreational marijuana became legal at midnight, July 1, 2015. (Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

Law enforcement groups have said excess marijuana from the legal market is leaking into the black market.

Patrick Pooler, owner of the cannabis farm, Heroes of the Farm, said the two greatest threats to the Oregon marijuana industry are large marijuana companies putting smaller growers out of business and diversion to the black market by desperate growers.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions has vowed to crack down on cannabis. (Susan Walsh | AP Photo)

"Corporate cannabis and outside influences, what I call the weed of Wall Street, are buying up weed." Pooler said. "These corporations didn't build the community of true Oregon growers."

All that being said, Pooler is thrilled to do what he loves every day.

So are the Fisher brothers, the New York apple-pickers turned cannabis entrepreneurs.

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Governor Kate Brown addresses legal pot at a press conference. (Dave Killen | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

To stand out in an overgrown landscape, the brothers said they cultivate a high-quality product and create unique strains. They currently grow more than 70.

"We set ourselves apart out of pure survival by creating our own brand," Kevin Fisher said.

Standing among a flowering crop of plants, inside a toasty greenhouse at the farm he and his brother have dubbed "Cannananda," Fisher said life is good.

"We are just happy to be able to keep growing and be out here every day," Kevin said.

-- Kaitlin Washburn

kwashburn@oregonian.com

503-221-8015; @kwashy12

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Marijuana plants in a Mulino cannabis farm. (Kaitlin Washburn | The Oregonian/OregonLive)

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