Depending on who's talking, a 20-acre hemp farm about 10 miles south of Grants Pass is either the harbinger of a new industry that could help save rural Oregon – or an existential threat to local marijuana farmers just as they're anticipating boom times.

Hemp, the non-intoxicating version of cannabis sativa, has long been a big part of the marijuana culture, celebrated for its wide variety of uses and status as a fellow victim of federal prohibition.

But now that both hemp and marijuana are coming out of the legal shadows in Oregon, they're suddenly in conflict – and state legislators may be about to side with the much more well-established marijuana industry.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Emergency crews are worried that the legalization of recreational marijuana in this state could lead to a rise in hash oil explosions, a pattern that's played out with dangerous results in Colorado.

"Potentially, we could see more of these fires and explosions," said Captain Chris Woodford of Forest Grove Fire & Rescue. "Hopefully nobody gets killed."

Forest Grove Fire & Rescue has seen two cases of hash oil explosions over the past few years. In March 2013, five people were hurt when a man cooking hash oil blew up his home.

In January 2014, another man making hash oil sparked a huge explosion in his home. He suffered serious burn injuries.

On July 1, Oregonians can grow up to 8 plants, possess up to 8 ounces and be allowed to carry up to an ounce away from home

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Thirty days. One month. That’s all that’s left before Oregon becomes the 4th state to legalize recreational marijuana.

When voters passed Measure 91 last November, it set into motion a two-tiered process for pot legalization. On July 1, possession will be legal. On January 4, 2016, retail sales applications will be taken, with retail sales sometime later in the year.

A concerned citizen wants Pendleton, Oregon to add smelly farts to the city's nuisance code. If you think I'm high from too much Sour Diesel and are wondering what the hell flatulence has to do with cannabis, bear with me, it gets good (and, of course, weird). 

There’s little doubt that Travis Dahl adores his dog, Dora, and absolutely none that she adores him. But their partnership is on borrowed time. Soon, Dora will leave for a new home and a new job. “It’ll be a bittersweet moment when she leaves, that’s for sure,” he says ruefully.

Dora, you see, has a drug problem. When it comes to marijuana, she can’t help herself. She’ll find it in sealed bags in the trunks of cars, hidden under floorboards, inside walls, drawers or pockets. And when she finds it, she won’t move until Dahl retrieves it and rewards her.

Oregon liquor control officials on Wednesday presented a plan for allowing retailers to sell both medical and recreational marijuana -- and it seemed to win support from key legislators.

Under the proposal, medical marijuana growers willing to accept strict regulatory controls would be able to sell to retailers serving both medical and recreational marijuana users.

However, there still does not appear to be any consensus on when retail sales of recreational marijuana will actually start.

SALEM — Pot growers worry that Oregon’s emerging hemp industry could take the buzz out of their recretional and medicinal weed.

Some lawmakers hope to clamp down on the state’s still-embryonic industrial hemp crop due to concerns that through cross-pollination hemp could harm outdoor medical marijuana grows, particularly in southern Oregon.

Hemp — a cousin of marijuana which contains much lower levels of THC, marijuana’s psychoactive component — can ruin valuable marijuana crops through cross-pollination, by lowering marijuana’s THC content, pot advocatese say.

SALEM — Hemp farmers and an expert say a bill moving through Salem that’s proposed as a way to get Oregon’s hemp industry off the ground is too restrictive and would make marijuana the state’s favored cannabis plant.

Oregon lawmakers passed a law in 2009 to legalize hemp, which has been classified as a drug federally for decades because of its relative: marijuana.

But bureaucratic delays since 2009 and changes in the last year in how federal authorities view the plant have kept Oregon farmers from getting seeds in the ground.

Oregon is gearing up for its grand opening into the retail marijuana business, but when exactly the first recreational pot transactions will be made is anyone’s guess. Many state officials want sales to begin July 1, the day the state’s new marijuana law officially goes into effect and possession of pot for non-medical purposes becomes legal. However, logistical snafus over who should be allowed to make the first sales could mean empty store shelves come July, Oregon liquor control officials said Wednesday.

The Oregon Senate delivered a powerful message in support of tightening regulation on medical marijuana Wednesday by voting 29-1 for a bill aimed at curbing diversions to the black market.

Although the measure has drawn intense opposition among many patients and growers, lawmakers said that the success of the state's new recreational pot market depends on getting a tighter handle on marijuana ostensibly grown for patients.

Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland and chair of a House-Senate committee on implementing the marijuana legalization initiative passed by voters in November, said the large amount of marijuana diverted to the black market makes it harder for legal sellers to compete and could even threaten federal action against the state.