Marijuana top US cash crop, policy analyst says

[Kadie]

Marijuana top US cash crop, policy analyst says
By David Alexander
2 minutes ago


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion (18 billion pounds) worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country's largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released on Monday.

The report, conducted by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst and former head of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, also concluded that five U.S. states produce more than $1 billion worth of marijuana apiece: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii and Washington.

California's production alone was about $13.8 billion, according to Gettman, who waged an unsuccessful six-year legal battle to force the government to remove marijuana from a list of drugs deemed to have no medical value.

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, said he could not confirm the report's conclusions on the size of the country's marijuana crop. But he said the government estimated overall U.S. illegal drug use at $200 billion annually.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061218/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_usa_marijuana_1

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Too bad the government won't legalize it

They could at least collect some tax revenues off all that money.

[walldude]

5. Yeah, God forbid they make some money and give farmers

a new, ridiculously easy to grow, cash crop.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Wanna know how to decrease pot's cash value as a crop overnight?

Legalize it. Grown legally & taxed, pot would cost something like what tobacco does.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. Tax it? That part's in place already.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Marihuana_Tax_Act

[thingfisher]

3. Is there any better evidence that the war on drugs

is a farce? What about the tons rhat are imported every year?
Most Americans know that marijuana is the most used illegal drug in the world, and in America it is as common as coffee. If there were no profit to be made from its illegal status (mostly by the intelligence srevices who benefit from it)rationality might prevail and we would have some from of decriminalization for pot use and possession.

Meanwhile, pot related arrests and conviction fuel the growong prison industry.

[wicket]

4. Imagine all of the tax $$ the government could have collected

n/t

[Mabus]

6. and the money they'd save from releasing pot dealers from prison

n/t

[Rex]

7. 'Just say no.'

Is it just me or are all the 'great' Republicans prone to massive stupidity?

[stillcool]

8. It's 'hard work'...

funding illegal wars.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

13. Plenty of stupidity to go around ...

Republicans don't have all the stupidity on this issue. Plenty of stupidity on both sides of the aisle.

[Rex]

14. Quote me a Dem that said something as stupid as, 'just say no.'

I must admit that the Dem's crusade against video games is about as stupid.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

18. "I didn't inhale"...........

That struck me as pretty stupid.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. Great quote ...

... I guess I was looking for something else from the Democratic side, like decriminalizing most drugs on a national scale. And of course, taxing the drugs, releasing folks convicted of drug possession/sale, etc.

[Rex]

21. Okay, yeah that is about as stupid.

But Clinton said a lot of things he didn't need to say. Nancy Reagan went around and acted like a few magical words would fix the problem. Clinton should have said 'it's none of your fucking business.'

IMO

[CrownPrinceBandar]

22. My use of the quote was less about Bill....

and more about how stupid it is to run away from your past and to not own up to something as fucking utterly banal as smoking pot. Obama owned up to it, to the point where he said that he'd inhaled several times, and how doing so was "kind of the point."

[Tyrone Slothrop]

23. Obama's also stated that he tried cocaine

And still won 70% of the vote in Illinois.

Could it be that voters actually like politicians who are upfront with them???

[Rex]

24. That is one reason I like Obama.

Maybe people can get over the fact that drugs won't always turn someone into a vile person. I'm not so sure about Republicanism.

[Wcross]

43. That was a really silly thing to say.

As if people would hold it against him if he had inhaled. I would have had more respect for him if he had said "Yes I did and I liked it" or "No comment". I think Bill Clinton was one of the greatest Presidents in history but that comment wasn't one of his finer moments.

[Vinca]

9. There was a bust in New Hampshire recently and they said it

was 7,000 plants with a street value of $30 million. My first thought, of course, was: Hey! I've got a green thumb! :rofl: Now if only I wasn't a chicken.

[jmowreader]

25. No one has THAT green of a thumb, including the person whose weed it was

I read in High Times once that the government calculates the amount of cannabis seized during a bust as one kilogram of processed marijuana per seized plant. (IIRC it was in response to a letter from a reader who wanted to know how long he was going to go to jail for if the cops ever went into his basement. The consensus was that it would be a really long time.)

A pot plant that holds enough leaves to make a kilogram of processed marijuana would be about the same size as the 30-foot oak tree in my back yard.

[Posteritatis]

28. IIRC, they include the *soil* weight when calculating that

Nothing like making a few ounces into a few kilos.

God help you if you just watered your plants..

[Vinca]

33. This growing operation was inside a few upscale houses

in the burbs! Apparently it was quite a setup and the plants were huge. The neighbors didn't suspect a thing, but the power company smelled a rat when transformers blew. I've always thought "street value" was usually puffed up a bit, but the 30 million floored me.

[Blue_In_AK]

38. They count the leaves, too, as part of the weight

instead of just the buds, which is the useful part. Idiots.

[jmowreader]

39. No...actually they don't

They don't even weigh the shit because to weigh it for "street value" you must dry it. They just count the plants and measure the ones that look tall.

Thinking back again...they said ANY pot plant counts as a kilogram of smokable marijuana. Seedlings count as a kilo of smokable weed. If the plant is over a certain height, it counts as two kilos.

Please note I said "smokable marijuana"--pot AFTER they dry it. Almost all of the weight of a plant is water. I've got a can of McCormick oregano upstairs which will illustrate this point nicely. The package is a flat-sided plastic box approx 7" x 5" x 2". When I got it, there were four ounces of oregano in it. If you were to strip all the leaves from a decent-size pot plant, dry them and crumble them, you'd be able to get them all in this container with plenty of room to spare.

Like I said, NO ONE grows pot this well.

[Blue_In_AK]

42. I was basing my opinion on what I've heard state troopers

testify to in drug cases that I've transcribed. Maybe they were just lying. :shrug:

[roamer65]

10. Legalized hemp production would equal much more ethanol...

for flex fuel vehicles. Hemp produces a lot more ethanol than does corn. I say legalize it and let's wean ourselves off the Saudi tit. Plus producing that much hemp will start to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere.

[Bjorn Against]

12. Hasn't it been the number one cash crop for years?

I think it has been the number one cash crop since the 1960's if I am not mistaken.

[Disturbed]

15. Legalizing would be logical.

That's not how the US Govt. operates.

[Selatius]

16. Legalize it! Regulate it! Then tax it to raise revenue!

That's my position here.

[northofdenali]

17. My state legalized small amounts years ago -

of course, the repukes are still fighting both the State and US Supreme court rulings that "simple possession" is covered by the Alaska Constitution's privacy protection clause. I agree that legalized pot with appropriate regulation and taxation, ala booze, would be the most intelligent course to take. But whoever said the majority of the Right was intelligent? Or even wants to be?

[Bjorn Against]

19. Decriminalized you mean

I don't think any states have actually legalized it, several have decriminalized and of those I believe Alaska has some of the most lenient laws. It is still illegal though, which is stupid.

[High Plains]

26. Alaska has LEGALIZED the possession of up to one ounce at home

It is legalized under the state constitution, as interpreted by the Alaska Supreme Court.

Decriminalized would mean you could still get a ticket and have to pay a fine. That's not the case in Alaska.

[northofdenali]

27. That is what I meant - my brain didn't quite catch up to my thoughts.

They still bust you if they're there for something else...... but the courts toss it out. It's not worth their time for small amounts.

[Blue_In_AK]

36. And don't we just love it that way?

:hippie: Alaska ROCKS.

[Pawel K]

34. You'd be suprised about the right wing's feelings about this

as immoral as they are most of them actually support decriminalizing pot. But for some stupid reason elected officials on both sides won't do it.

[Zhade]

29. Too bad even some good liberal people wrongly believe it's a dangerous drug.

NT!

[Hippo_Tron]

30. Question, are those necklaces they sell in stores made out of real hemp?

Or are they fake? And if so, is it just illegal to grow hemp in the US or is it technically illegal to sell it too?

[High Plains]

45. You can sell hemp products, but you can't grow it in the US

Drug war logic, if that's not an oxymoron.

Domestic manufacturers of hemp products have to import it from civilized countries.

[NobleCynic]

31. ::Chuckle::

Beautiful.

It's a shame we don't legalize it and tax it like any other intoxicant.

[NobleCynic]

32. 10,000 metric tons a year translates to an average consumption

in the United States of about .94 ounces per year per person. Assuming that none of it is exported, and it is all for domestic consumption. Seems plausible. Given that, just for reference, the average person goes through something like 18 pounds of chocolate in a year, I can see this number being well within the scope of reality.

[Pawel K]

35. That number is perfectly reasonable

the average pot smoker probably smokes an ounce a week.

[mainegreen]

37. What? That's seriously crazy right there!

An ounce a week? Jebus, an ounce of the KB lasts me 6 months!

[Wcross]

44. Really, you would be stoned 24/7 at that rate, nt

[ellisonz]

40. The average pot smoker does not smoke an ounce a week...

the average pot smoker probably smokes between 1/3rd to half an ounce a week. 2-4 1/8ths. Most pot smokers are students or are dutifully employed. The totally unproductive drug users are normally heroin addicts or meth addicts, and even they can be productive for quite a period into the addiction cycle. Bottomline: drugs make you lazy is highly overplayed. I mean seriously they found a couple pipes w/marijuana residue hidden in the walls in the Shakespeare residence in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

[Pawel K]

46. You guys forget there is 2 types of weed

the "dank" and the "swag". I would estimate average smoker of dank smokes 1/4 ounce a week ($100) and of swag an ounce ($40) as I suggested.

I'll stand by my numbers.

[JNelson6563]

41. When the oligarch's realize

how they can best exploit this you will see immediate change in regard to laws related to marijuana.

Julie