Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

West Africa's Cash Crop: Weed
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=49269 ^ | Sunday, 04 January 2004 | G. Pascal Zachary

Posted on 01/04/2004 10:52:49 PM PST by Delta 21

West Africa's Cash Crop: Weed

Marijuana What if a poor African country could grow a plant that would fetch healthy prices in the U.S? What if the plant could be grown on small farms, encouraging democracy in this poor African country by putting cash into the hands of its poorest and most powerless people? What if such a plant could reduce the poor African country's dependence on the U.S. for aid?

Of course, the U.S. would cheer such a plant and the country that grows it. And President George Bush would be especially glad, since improving living standards in Africa is one of his key global objectives.

Such a plant does exist, and an African country is growing it in good measure. Yet President Bush isn't cheering. Worse, the Bush administration is fighting a war against the plant and the poor African country that grows it.

The country is Ghana, in West Africa, and the plant is cannabis or "ganja," the term preferred by Ghanaians. Marijuana grown in Ghana is of good quality, plentiful and relatively inexpensive. Twenty neatly rolled sticks of pot, or about half an ounce, sell for about $3.

That's right, good pot sells for $6 an ounce in Ghana. Here is the highest stage of capitalism – the free market – in action.

Ghana is one of the most peaceful countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The country rarely sees any violence (a benefit of pot-smoking?), has a democratically elected government and boasts one of the freest societies in Africa. Pot has been grown and smoked in the country for decades, drawing little comment. In Accra, the coastal capital of Ghana, people smoke discreetly, to be sure, because the sale and possession of pot is technically illegal. But pot is easy to purchase, arrests are rare, and smoking is popular, especially among American and European aid workers in the country.

For pot smokers, Accra is an African paradise. But like many a paradise in Africa, Accra is threatened by a man-made disaster. The disaster, funded by American tax dollars, is the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

I am no expert in the world's drug wars, or the DEA, but I spent the better part of the past two years in Ghana and I never saw any signs of pot ripping apart the fabric of Ghanaian life. There are no drug lords in Accra, no gun-toting bodyguards or pot addicts strewn across the city's derelict roads.

Just the opposite is occurring, actually. Pot is giving a people starved for economic opportunity a chance to participate in the global economy. Ghana is one of the losers in the world's experiment with widening trade. Goods flood into Ghana from China, Brazil, Mexico, even the U.S. And not just manufactured products either. Butter is imported from France, pasta and canned tomatoes from Italy, rolled oats from Germany and rice from the U.S. Because the cost of producing and shipping these foods is subsidized by European, U.S. and Canadian governments, their cost in Ghana is sometimes less than it is in the country of origin. And even if it isn't, these imports ruin the lives of African food producers. American rice, imported into Ghana, sells for substantially less than rice grown in Ghana.

The burden of food imports would be less crushing if Ghana exported an equal amount of goods, but the country doesn't. It hardly exports anything. The country's two leading exports are cacao beans (the basic ingredient in cocoa and chocolate) and gold. These exports are the foundation of Ghana's economy – today and 100 years ago.

Ghana has low farm costs, making it an attractive place (in theory) to grow fruits and vegetables. But because of deplorable "feeder" roads to Ghana's cities and ports, roughly one-third to one-half of the country's crop of delicious pineapples rots before reaching market. Nearly as many of Ghana's plentiful bananas suffer the same fate.

Marijuana has a longer shelf life. For poor Ghana, it offers a lifeline to a more diverse and durable economic future.

To achieve this does not require a revolution in world drug laws either. European countries have eased their restrictions on marijuana, creating a chance for African growers to tap the huge market in cities such as Amsterdam, Stockholm and Copenhagen. After all, West Africa is a short hop by sea or plane to Western Europe, giving Africans an edge over producers elsewhere in the world.

Simply, then, by sticking to the gray area of the world's fuzzy pot laws, Ghana could reap substantial benefits. Instead, the U.S. insists that Ghana buy American rice and yet refuses to allow its citizens to purchase Ghana's marijuana. Whatever the arrangement is, it is not free trade.

To add to the injury, the Bush administration wants to fuel a drug war in Ghana, where pot exporters are so sophisticated and nefarious that their preferred method of transporting weed is to hide it in shipments of yams bound for Europe.

Against this menace stands the DEA. About six months ago, the agency privately persuaded the government of Ghana to accept its advice and mount a campaign of resistance against pot production and distribution. The DEA offered the carrot of "technical assistance" – jargon in foreign-aid speak for equipment and cash that African police, who are woefully underpaid, long for.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: drugwar; marijuana; pot; warondrugs; weed; wod
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-23 last
To: A CA Guy
Doesn't the author realize that if marijuana were legal, "ganja" exports would drop to about, oh, zero?

What, we should legalize marijuana AND prop up their price? Yeah, I'll vote for that proposition.

21 posted on 01/06/2004 9:40:54 AM PST by robertpaulsen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: robertpaulsen
Great dangerous BS on your part. Just today it was announced that overall, drug use was down except for kids with pot and they say it is twice as powerful as what their parents had and that the parents bad habits and stupidity is passing this addiction down with their attitude.

They are a curse to their children.
22 posted on 01/06/2004 8:41:32 PM PST by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: A CA Guy
I thought my sarcasm was obvious.

The author claims that ganja is such a great export crop, that it's helping the Ghana economy, and lamenting that if it were only legal in the U.S. then Ghana could sell so much more.

The only reason Ghana is making money is because marijuana is illegal -- it increases the price/profit. If marijuana were legal, the price would drop and many users would just grow their own. Ghana's exports would drop to zero.

"Just today it was announced that overall, drug use was down except for kids with pot"

Do you have a reference for that? I'd be interested in reading it.

23 posted on 01/07/2004 6:15:20 AM PST by robertpaulsen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-23 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson