A lawsuit has accused an Oregon nurse of replacing a patient’s fentanyl IV with tap water, leading to a bacterial infection that killed him.

Horace Wilson, known to his family and friends as “Buddy” was a founding member of an award-winning Oregon cannabis company called Decibel Farms. He fell off a ladder in January of 2022, which ruptured his spleen causing him to be hospitalized. He underwent several surgeries after which he started experiencing complications, including sepsis. A blood test revealed a bacterial growth later identified as Staphylococcus epidermidis, according to the Oregonian. Wilson died on February 25 from treatment-resistant sepsis related to this infection.

At the time of Wilson’s death, his family and business partner passed it off as basic incompetence on the hospital’s part mixed with bad luck, but two years after Wilson’s death, some shocking new developments began to unfold implicating that a nurse working for Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center where Wilson was receiving care may have been siphoning fentanyl out of IV bags and replacing it with tap water, leading to the bacterial infection that ultimately killed him. His estate filed a lawsuit against the nurse in question this past Monday. The Medford Police Department released a statement about the matter on January 3.

“In early December 2023 the Medford Police Department was contacted by officials from Asante in regard to a former employee that they believe was involved in the theft of controlled substances prescribed to patients. Additionally, there was concern that this behavior resulted in adverse patient care, though the extent of the impact on those patients is yet to be determined. MPD is actively working on investigating these claims,” a Medford Police Department Facebook post said. “MPD has received numerous calls from individuals asking if they or a family member have been impacted by the suspected actions of the former Asante employee. Asante has informed MPD that they have identified the involved patients and have notified or are in the process of notifying them or their families.

It is unclear exactly how many patients may have been affected by the nurse’s alleged actions but a lawyer representing the estate of Horace Wilson told the Oregonian he has at least nine clients whose medications may have been swapped out for tap water. The nurse in question was named in the $11.5 million lawsuit as Dani Marie Schofield, though Medford police have not confirmed that she is a suspect nor has Asante released a statement about her. 

Shaun Bishop of Decibel Farms and Horace Wilson’s business partner before he passed told High Times that his friend Buddy has been dearly missed, and the recent news about the possibility that his death may have been avoidable has “added insult to injury.”

“When it came to the time of his death, we all just kind of threw our hands up and we’re like, yeah, hospitals suck, you know. That’s a good place to go if you want if you wanna die,” Bishop said. “We just saw through it and figured it was incompetence just from modern medicine and hospitals and the way they operate. But finding out that it was from criminal activity brings a whole ‘nother source of pain to the situation for me and primarily his children.”

Bishop stressed that Wilson was a great business partner, great friend, lover of cannabis and loved his kids more than anything else in the world. He left behind five children, one of whom, Bishop told High Times, was at his side the entire time he was in the hospital. To Bishop’s knowledge, that same child wrote a letter of complaint to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center regarding Schofield and her perceived incompetence at the time, though none of them necessarily suspected criminal activity at the time.

“[Wilson’s daughter] spent the month he was in the hospital. She was there primarily by herself for most of that time except when the other kids or I would come visit. So she was the closest to the nurse,” Bishop said. “She knew that nurse on a daily basis and had really weird feelings about her since the beginning. She voiced it early, early on that there’s something wrong with that nurse. We were like, yeah, we know, [name redacted] It’s frustrating being in the hospital, but we didn’t know it was a criminal vibe she was picking up.”

The child in question whose name I’ve left out of this out of an abundance of respect for the privacy of the family declined to comment for this article because it could affect the integrity of the lawsuit. No criminal charges have yet been announced against Schofield. The business Wilson left behind is a multiple award-winning cannabis producer that helped pioneer the very early days of Oregon’s legal market. Bishop told High Times that Wilson dying was incredibly hard on the company but also that he helped lay down a solid framework so Decibel Farms could continue on without him.

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The long-awaited High Times Cannabis Cup Oregon: People’s Choice Edition 2023 results are finally here! It’s been eight months since we announced our return to explore the Beaver State, and the wait has finally ended.

It’s an especially unique return too, given that technically we haven’t been back to check out Oregon’s plethora of offerings since our People’s Choice Edition cup was announced in July 2020, and results were published in January 2021.

That all being said, a lot has changed since our last in-person cannabis cup event in Oregon, which was held in 2019 (remember the pandemic? It feels like a fever dream now). Back then, we were seeing popular strains Ice Cream Cake, Sundae Driver, Ghost Train Haze, Forbidden Fruit in the winner’s list. Concentrates included a handful of gorgeous diamonds, live resin sauce, sugar, and so much more. (And for edibles lovers, who can forget marshmallow bon-bons, infused lemonade, and fudge.)

Then the 2020 Oregon People’s Choice Edition results showed in early 2021. We had to shift some of our planned dates due to devastating wildfires that ravaged the area at the time, but crowd favorite winners were strains such as Strawberry Guava, MAC1, Motorbreath, Blueberry Muffins, and Mimosa that took home awards. Brands like Deschutes Growery, PDX Organics, and Decibel Farms took home multiple awards in categories for flower, while concentrate trends included delicious live rosin and solventless hash rosin. Our edibles category expanded that year, so there were many more crowd favorite chocolates, caramels, gummies, brownies, and cookies.

It’s been nearly two years since we’ve asked the good people of Oregon to meticulously rank some of their state’s best products. Now check out the new generation of winners, from returning fan favorites to brand new competitors that seriously impressed our judges.

Indica Flower

First Place: Culture Farms x Backpack Boyz – Lemon Cherry Roze

Second Place: Green Clover Farms – Sour Pistachio

Third Place: Eastwood Gardens – Runtz Horchata

Sativa Flower

First Place: Pruf Cultivar – Jack Herer

Second Place: Trichome Farms – Black Widow

Third Place: Eastwood Gardens – Lemon Royale

Hybrid Flower

First Place: Earl Baker – Super Buff Cherry

Second Place: Pruf Cultivar – Blue Apricot Sherbet

Third Place: Culture Farms – Watermelon Gelato

Non-Infused Pre-Rolls

First Place: Trichome Farms – Forbidden Fruit Gelato Pre-roll

Second Place: Decibel Farms – Apple Slapz #3 Pre-Roll

Third Place: Lit Sticks by PDX Organix – Orange Julius Pre-Roll

Infused Pre-Rolls

First Place: Portland Heights – 1G Moonrock Slims Blue Lambo Infused Pre-Roll

Second Place: Shadowbox Farms – Douggie Infused Blunt

Third Place: Casbah Hash – Hashish Infused Joint

Solvent Concentrates

First Place: Capital Cannabis – Guava Pie Live Batter

Second Place: Dr. Jolly’s x 54 Green Acres – Green Dragon Live Resin

Third Place: NW Kind – Lemon Meringue Diamonds & Sauce

Non-Solvent Concentrates

First Place: Bonsai Farms – Cherry Pie x GG4 Live Rosin

Second Place: Cascade Valley Cannabis – Apples & Bananas Live Rosin

Third Place: Decibel Dabs – Citrus Palisade #2 Live Rosin

Vape Pens & Cartridges

First Place: Dr. Jolly’s x Sol Cultivations – Orange Cream Live Resin Vape

Second Place: Calyx Crafts – Fat Burger Live Resin Liquid Diamonds All-in-One Vape

Third Place: Buddies – Mt Hood Magic Liquid Diamonds Buddies Pod System

Edibles: Gummies & Fruit Chews

First Place: Smokiez – Sour Watermelon Fruit Chews

Second Place: Electric Lettuce – Summer Edition Cosmic Pop Gummies

Third Place: Nelson & Co. Organics – Strawberry Carefree Jellies

Edibles: Non-Gummies

First Place: Yamba Floss – Blueberry & Strawberry Cotton Candy

Second Place: Hapy Kitchen – Toffee Crunch Blondie

Third Place: Quality Drugs – Fall Edition Variety Pack Cannabis Infused Caramels

Topicals + Tinctures + Capsules

First Place: High Desert Pure – Fast-Acting Mango Nano Chill Elixir

Second Place: Fruit Lust Flavorz – Strawberry Nano Tech Syrup

Third Place: Peak – Rescue Rub

2023 was a huge year for the High Times Cannabis Cup: People’s Choice Edition. In total, we celebrated the results of six competitions in Michigan, SoCal, Illinois, New Mexico, in addition to Oregon, as well as our annual Hemp Cup.

That’s just the beginning. 2024 is looking to be a great year as well with our Massachusetts and Arizona People’s Choice Edition competitions well underway. Plus, we have a few more cups announcements soon to come, so keep an eye out for more news in the near future.

A special thank you to our partners and sponsors!

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