Posted on 12/09/2008 10:58:02 AM PST by AuntB
The reason marijuana is so abundant in Paraguay is simple, authorities there say: economics.
"Our reality is that we have large crops, large parcels of crops," said Cesar Aquino, the head of Paraguay's antidrug agency. "They don't dedicate themselves to cultivating marijuana because they are narcotraffickers, but because of economic necessity. Compared to the price of a traditional crop, they can make 500 percent more with this."
The U.N. report says marijuana cultivation remains concentrated in North America, where the largest producers are Mexico and the United States.
Mexico produced 7,400 metric tons, while the United States cultivated 4,700 metric tons.....
Paraguay ( 5,900 metric tons) easily outproduced Colombia, Brazil, the Caribbean region (notably St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica) and Central America (notably Guatemala), the World Drug Report said.
In Africa, where marijuana production takes place in nearly every country, the largest producer is South Africa (2,500 metric tons), followed by Malawi, Zambia and Swaziland.
Most of the growers are poor, and they cultivate their crops on nature preserves and private forests near where they live.
While arrests for trafficking and selling drugs are common, Paraguayan authorities say, there is not a single person in jail for growing and cultivating marijuana. Authorities say it's too hard to catch growers.
In addition, each eradication raid costs around $25,000, officials say. As a result, the government is asking for help from countries that may be affected by marijuana coming from Paraguay.
Specialists say that marijuana grown in Paraguay is in great demand because of its high potency. In addition, the experts say, Paraguayan soil is excellent for growing marijuana and can yield 6,600 pounds for each hectare (2.47 acres). Many plots can yield more than one harvest a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Most of the pot being grown in the USA is being done by Mexican Drug Cartels.
Related article:
Mexico suspects ex-drug czar took huge bribes from traffickers
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/11/21/mexico.arrest/index.html
You know the fastest way to resolve this is to make marijuana legal.
Legalize it and the price will drop, people will grow their own, and there’ll be no need for the economy of other Countries to depend on marijuana for export.
I do not and never did use illegal drugs, but if marijuana is THAT much of a problem to us, legalization might just be the answer. It’ll surely put some Countries into a depression greater than ours.
Growing for personal use might make sense. Probably the only way that government would ever sign on would be if growers were limited to something like a 5 ft. square plot, or 5 5 gallon buckets for growing. And probably charge a growers fee or something like that.
My husband was born in 1929. As a young man he did track labor for the railroad. He said the Mexican track laborers would plant seeds along the right of way, so they always had a little soothing smoke at the end of the day. Maybe even in the middle of the day? ;-)
Yes, I’ve come to that conclusion myself.
“but because of economic necessity.”
This is, of course, the same argument used for the opium production in Afghanistan. Would it make more sense to spend the drug war money on economic development in these areas?
You’re probably right about that.
The ONDCP recently reported that Mexican drug trafficking organizations make about $13.8 billion a year selling drugs to Americans, close to $8.6 billion from marijuana alone.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2008-02-21-2221217072_x.htm
http://pushingback.com/blogs/pushing_back/archive/2008/02/25/40553.aspx
Decriminalize all drugs. Take the crime out of it and you will destroy the drug cartels as their product would then become very cheap and easily available. People that use drugs will do this if it is illegal or legal As an added benefit the druggies will often remove themselves from the gene pool when given access to cheap high potency drugs.
More than half the violent crime in the United States is Drug related. This costs our country 100s of billions of dollars each year.
As long as it is illegal our crime rate will be astronomic and the innocents in society pay the price. If it were legal only the guilty would pay with the damage they do themselves.
Societies first duty is to protect the innocent not prevent druggies from using drugs. Let them have all they wish and bury them when they die.
Legalize it and the price will drop, people will grow their own
I don't do anything harder than beer. Citizens everywhere can brew their own (up to so many gallons) and share it. They just can't charge for it. I tend to look at marijuana as I do beer. Treat offences under the influence the same, but otherwise, it should be legal.
“Decriminalize all drugs. Take the crime out of it...”
You must mean “legalize” instead of “decriminalize.” When a drug is decriminalized, as has happened with marijuana in a few states, the threat of jail is removed and usually people caught with the drug won’t end up with a criminal record. They’ll usually be fined though and the drugs will be confiscated. There is no legal production or sales when a drug is decriminalized. Decriminalization does not “take the crime out of it.” Law breakers will still provide the drugs, and usually that means organized crime will be involved in production and wholesale sales at least.
A law banning something that grows naturally from a seed is about as dumb as a law can get.
Yes you are correct.
ONDCP estimated the annual mj consumption in the US to be just over a thousand metric tons. It seems to me that either consumption estimates are way too low, or production figures are way too high, or there is a massive glut.
--briancbennett.com/charts/fed-data/consumption.htm
The consumption estimate was for the year 2000.
Yes, those old consumption estimates were way too low. Law enforcement seize way more every year than they said Americans consume, and you know law enforcement aren’t getting anywhere near two thirds or more of the pot on the market. I bet they’re probably only getting ten or twenty percent. At about the same time as those consumption estimates came out supply estimates came out where a different government agency claimed that the supply of marijuana available on the market here was between 12,000 and 25,000 metric tons per year, which is a little more than that consumption estimate of just over a 1000 metric tons per year. I think they must just make some of this crap up.
“Yes you are correct.”
Thanks. I was just having a discussion yesterday with someone who was claiming that Freerepublic is full of people that think “decriminalization” would end the influence of organized crime. I pointed out that “decriminalization” and “legalization” are often mistakenly used interchangeably, and that if people claim that decriminalization will cut organized crime out of the picture they probably really mean “legalization.” He offered to ping me to cases where people claim decriminalization will remove the influence of organized crime, so I'm returning the favor to him.
“Would it make more sense to spend the drug war money on economic development in these areas?”
Do you really think that would stop dirt poor farmers or even not so poor farmers from growing a crop that brings them 500% more money than traditional crops? I suspect that if we invested money in economic development in these areas most of that money would go to only a few people and the rest would be in the same boat they were in before and they’d be doing the same things to make a buck. Maybe I’m just a pessimist, but I don’t think throwing money at these people will help. They’ll take that money and make even more supplying the huge demand for illegal drugs. I think if we went in and bought all the opium currently being produced in Afghanistan they’d just double production and make twice as much money. Or rather a few people would make a killing and the rest would just eke out pretty much the same as they were before. And we don’t really need to worry about Paraguay anyway. They’re producing mostly for the South American market. We could let South American countries invest in economic development for Paraguay and see where that gets them.
Sounds in line with Joe Arpaio's estimate:
"I don't know how to stop the drug traffic, and I've been in it for 38 years," the sheriff, widely touted as the toughest cop in the nation, told Harper's in 2001. "I think if I knew, I'd be the president. I can give you what's been said 50 years ago. ... It's the same thing we're saying today – tough law enforcement, prevention, rehabilitation ...
Nothing's changed. The stuff coming across the border that we catch? Ten percent. Fifty years ago, 10 percent. Today, 10 percent. Nothing's changed ... I don't know how to solve the problem. Don't ask me."
From WND article via http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1156176/posts
I’ve never heard anyone in law enforcement say they think they are getting more than ten or twenty percent.
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