Pot Is Called Biggest Cash Crop

[DansDarkSide]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...home-headlines

Pot is called biggest cash crop
The $35-billion market value of U.S.-grown cannabis tops that of such heartland staples as corn and hay, a marijuana activist says.
By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
December 18, 2006

SACRAMENTO — For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it.

A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops.

California is responsible for more than a third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined — and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states.

The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter century despite an exhaustive anti-drug effort by law enforcement.

Jon Gettman, the report's author, is a public policy consultant and leading proponent of the push to drop marijuana from the federal list of hard-core Schedule 1 drugs — which are deemed to have no medicinal value and a high likelihood of abuse — such as heroin and LSD.

He argues that the data support his push to begin treating cannabis like tobacco and alcohol by legalizing and reaping a tax windfall from it, while controlling production and distribution to better restrict use by teenagers.

"Despite years of effort by law enforcement, they're not getting rid of it," Gettman said. "Not only is the problem worse in terms of magnitude of cultivation, but production has spread all around the country. To say the genie is out of the bottle is a profound understatement."

While withholding judgment on the study's findings, federal anti-drug officials took exception to Gettman's conclusions.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, cited examples of foreign countries that have struggled with big crops used to produce cocaine and heroin. "Coca is Colombia's largest cash crop and that hasn't worked out for them, and opium poppies are Afghanistan's largest crop, and that has worked out disastrously for them," Riley said. "I don't know why we would venture down that road."

The contention that pot is America's biggest cash crop dates to the early 1980s, when marijuana legalization advocates began citing Drug Enforcement Administration estimates suggesting that about 1,000 metric tons of pot were being produced nationwide. Over the years, marijuana advocates have produced studies estimating the size and value of the U.S. crop, most recently in 1998.

Gettman's report cites figures in a 2005 State Department report estimating U.S. cannabis cultivation at 10,000 metric tons, or more than 22 million pounds — 10 times the 1981 production.

Using data on the number of pounds eradicated by police around the U.S., Gettman produced estimates of the likely size and value of the cannabis crop in each state. His methodology used what he described as a conservative value of about $1,600 a pound compared to the $2,000- to $4,000-a-pound street value often cited by law enforcement agencies after busts.

In California, the state's Campaign Against Marijuana Planting seized nearly 1.7 million plants this year — triple the haul in 2005 — with an estimated street value of more than $6.7 billion. Based on the seizure rate over the last three years, the study estimates that California grew more than 21 million marijuana plants in 2006 — with a production value nearly triple the next closest state, Tennessee, which had an estimated $4.7-billion cannabis harvest.

California ranked as the report's top state for both outdoor and indoor marijuana production. The report estimates that the state had 4.2 million indoor plants valued at nearly $1.5 billion. The state of Washington was ranked next, with $438 million worth of indoor cannabis plants.

California also is among nine states that produce more cannabis than residents consumed, Gettman estimates. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the state's 3.3 million cannabis users represent about 13% of the nation's pot smokers. But California produces more than 38% of the cannabis grown in the country, the study contends.

Nationwide, the estimated cannabis production of $35.8 billion exceeds corn ($23 billion), soybeans ($17.6 billion) and hay ($12.2 billion), according to Gettman's findings.

[waltky]

It'll ruin yer lungs worse than tobacco...

Cannabis harm worse than tobacco
Monday, 30 July 2007, Smoking a cannabis joint could cause as much lung damage as up to five tobacco cigarettes, scientists say.

The research, published in the journal Thorax, found cannabis damaged the large airways in the lungs causing symptoms such as coughing and wheezing. It also damaged the ability of the lungs to get oxygen to, and remove waste products from tissues.

Experts say the study confirms that the drug represents a serious health risk. "This research confirms that cannabis poses a serious health risk to the lungs, and smoking a joint can be more harmful to the lungs than smoking a cigarette" - Dr Keith Prowse, British Lung Foundation

In the study researchers from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, Wakefield Hospital and the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, studied 339 volunteers. They took CT scans of their lungs and tested their lung function through breathing tests to assess their lung damage.

More BBC NEWS | Programmes | Cannabis harm worse than tobacco

[waltky]

Drug gangs not so funny...

Mexico drug violence could spill into United States
Friday, October 19, 2007

Escalating violence by Mexican drug cartels is spilling into the United States, and deteriorating security in Mexico will make this year the deadliest yet for that country in drug-related crimes, according to a report released Wednesday for a state panel.

The report to the Texas Border Security Council says more than 2,100 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since Jan. 1.

On the U.S. side of the border, the report says, "the underreporting of crimes ... and corruption among low- and midlevel U.S. law enforcement officials facilitate the northward spread of cartel activity."

An advance copy of the report to be released Wednesday was obtained early by the Houston Chronicle newspaper.

Source

See also:

Leftist Leader Wants to Remove US Base That is Key to Anti-Drug Efforts
October 18, 2007 - The U.S. military is looking for a new location in South America, after Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa announced he is not renewing the current lease he holds for a base in Manta, along Ecuador's shoreline.

In 1999, the U.S. and Ecuador signed a bilateral agreement that allows the U.S. to use a portion of the Ecuadorian Eloy Alfaro Air Force Base in Manta as a "forward operating location" (FOL) for counter-narcotics operations. The agreement expires in November 2009. When he ran for election last year, Correa said on the campaign trail, "Before I renew that contract, I'll cut my hand off. Not one more foreign soldier in our land from 2009 onward."

Correa is among the region's leftist presidents who are open supporters of anti-American Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Correa has followed many of Chavez's policies, including most recently pushing for a constitutional assembly to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. The base falls under the U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for South and Central America and the Caribbean.

U.S. agencies say that more than 60 percent of illegal drug seizures last year -- 262 tons and representing a street value of over $5.2 billion -- took place thanks to information gathered by counter-narcotics flights from the Manta base. Linda Jewell, U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, says on the embassy website, "The mission of the FOL is to help Ecuador protect the sovereignty of its territory against the transnational crime of drug trafficking. Our cooperation with Ecuador is producing positive results."

MORE

[waltky]

Too much cannabis 'worsens pain'
Wednesday, 24 October 2007, Canada and Holland allow the medical use of cannabis

Smoking large amounts of cannabis for therapeutic reasons may increase rather than reduce pain, a US study suggests. The pain-relieving qualities of cannabis have long been hailed, and several countries have made it available for medicinal purposes.

But quantity is key, according to the study in the journal Anesthesiology. University of California researchers found moderate use had the greatest impact on pain in 15 volunteers, while large doses actually made pain worse.

The team recruited 15 healthy volunteers, in whom pain was induced by injecting capsaicin - the "hot" chemical found in chilli peppers - under their skin. They were then given cannabis to smoke. The strength of the dose was determined by the tetrahydrocannabinol content, which is the main active chemical in cannabis. Some of the volunteers were given a placebo.

High, but in pain

Don't knock it till ya tried it.