At a market value of $35 billion per year – or $117 per American – marijuana is now the biggest cash crop in the United States, according to a study reported in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times and elsewhere.
[Study author Jon] 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.
The L.A. Times notes that "California ranked as the report’s top state for both outdoor and indoor marijuana production," and that "California also is among nine states that produce more cannabis than residents consumed."
Curiously, though, we haven’t heard any U.S. politicians proposing to hire DynCorp to spray "Round-Up Ultra" in Humboldt, Mendocino and Marin counties.
December 19th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Actually, if one follows INL’s logic, it’s Napa and Sonoma (along with North Carolina and Kentucky) that should be fumigated according to the morbidity and mortality statistics. Tobacco kills more than 400,000 Americans every year, alcohol kills about 85,000 and all illicit drug use (including prescription drugs) kills about 17,000. Marijuana kills 0 Americans each year.
Come to think of it, more than ten times as many Americans are killed by firearms each year than were killed on 9/11 but the right wing is loath to consider gun control measures because they consider it “unconstitutional” under their interpretation of the Second Amendment. These are often the same people who are willing to shred the Constitution and trample on our civil liberties because less than 3,000 Americans have been killed by terrorist since 9/11.
December 24th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
See video for more information on pot as the biggest cash crop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKEtcw2KZnM