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Plane Carrying Over Five Pounds of Black Market Hash Oil Crashes in Oregon
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By land, sea, or air, black market pot dealers will do anything to try and get their weed across state lines, even if it means risking a crash landing in a tiny private plane.
Published on September 16, 2019

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Two Idaho men are facing federal drug trafficking charges after a small private plane crash landed onto a suburban street in Medford, Oregon. Authorities uncovered a cargo load including 5.65 pounds of cannabis oil, 10 doses of LSD, and more than one thousand dollars in cash.

According to the Medford Mail Tribune, Boise residents Matthew Thompson, the pilot, and Zachary Moore, the passenger, were transporting the cannabis oil between Idaho and Oregon when a plane malfunction sent the two hurdling into a tree on the 2300 block of Whittle Avenue, just a few yards away from rows of residential homes. 

But unbeknownst to the duo of high flying pot pushers, their under the radar flight was actually being watched by law enforcement officers with the Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement (MADGE) task force on suspicion of transporting narcotics. And so in addition to firefighters and paramedics at the plane crash scene, Thompson and Moore were also greeted by a swarm of police officers, who carted the flyers out of the scene in handcuffs.

In a new edition of the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program’s latest “HIDTA Times” quarterly newsletter, local cops say that they later discovered a hash oil processing laboratory at Thompson’s Boise home. 

Now, after navigating the poorly piloted plane and arresting Thompson and Moore, MADGE has turned the case over to federal authorities, who have charged the duo with counts of manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance. 

As long as the federal government holds out on total legalization, there will always be incentive for black market dealers to cross state lines looking for larger profit. But if you’re going to ditch the postal service or 18-wheelers in favor of a self-piloted plane, it's probably worth it to take a few extra hours in front of the flight simulator before actually leaving the ground — just saying.

Follow Zach Harris on Twitter

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Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia whose work has appeared on Noisey, First We Feast, and Jenkem Magazine. You can find him on Twitter @10000youtubes complaining about NBA referees.
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