The school bus lot for the Eagle Point School District is located a few feet from a hemp field, and the vehicles carry the odor of the cannabis plant, KDRV reported.
"This is the time of year I hate," bus driver Jennifer Backesallred, who has driven children for 18 years, told the television station.
It's that time of year again! It's almost time to harvest hemp, so the smell is filling the valley. The smell is filling school buses and the drivers aren't happy about it. https://t.co/MbeNbzf3or
— NewsWatch 12 (@KDRV) September 27, 2019
Backesallred said that while students on her route complain about the smell, she is powerless to do anything about it.
"I thought about changing my route, but they've popped up everywhere," Backesallred told KDRV. "So no matter what, I'm driving through the hemp farms because we are just surrounded by them now."
Diane Archer, who has driven a school bus for 20 years, said the smell of hemp is strong and "disgusting."
"We go by fields and it's disgusting and the kids have to hold their breath because it stinks," Archer told KDRV.
The state of Oregon has restrictions on marijuana, but not hemp, which is considered an agricultural crop. the television station reported. Still, parents like Brett Goila, whose five children attend school in the area, is incredulous that hemp grows next to the lot where school buses are parked.
"It's a terrible location, I believe that if more parents knew about this, there's better locations either to move the buses or move the pot," Goila told KDRV.
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