Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???

Subject: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 04:14 PM

A report conducted by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst and former head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, claims that U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making marijuana the country's largest cash crop - bigger than corn and wheat combined.

It looks like Willie Nelson's involement with Farm Aid has paid off!

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 04:57 PM

It is also possible that there are aspects to this question that complicate the data on either side.

On the one side is the pro-legalization faction. They would like it known that "everybody" does it and therefore it should be legal.

On the other side is government. They would love to get their hands on the money that marijuana generates, if only they could figure out how to tax it without making it legal.

Both sides might easily exaggerate the facts.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 05:10 PM

Why then is so much smuggled into the US?

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 05:22 PM

My local and regional authorities have recently reported that virtually NO DOMESTIC marijuana appears on the street, with the bulk of it coming in from Mexico. That suggests that the imports from Mexico must at least equal the home grown stuff, so we're up to $70 billion in domestic consumption.

That is of course unless we've started an export trade or it's piling up in hay barns somewhere.

Please pass the salt, I think I need a grain or two here. I won't completely discount the report; but ... .

John

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Rapparee
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 05:22 PM

There are, I believe, a couple of states (Ohio??) that have laws on the books about paying taxes on illegal drugs. It was an attempt to break the dealers one way if not another.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: GUEST, ...
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 05:24 PM

Do you know that so much is smuggled in? The very fact that it is (or is not) smuggled means that there are no verifiable figures showing how much is smuggled.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: GUEST,KB
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 05:29 PM

Iowa has a drug stamp law. If you are charged with posession you may also be charged with violating the drug stamp law.

I got to wondering what would happen if you attempted to purchase a drug stamp. Are they actually even available? They ought to be.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: number 6
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 05:41 PM

It's the largest cash crop here in SJ ... growops all over the place ... they have resulted in a few fires recently here in the dense urban centres where the unfortunate neighbour's houses burned down.

It's a large cash crop because of the large market demand.

I dunno, seems getting drunk and stoned has become the major past time for too many people.

biLL

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 06:10 PM

I'm sure that when someone answers, I'll slap my head and say, Of course! but where is SJ, biLL?

(People's houses burning down because of drugs sounds more like a meth operation than marijuana to me)

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Bobert
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 06:28 PM

Cut out the middle men...

Grow your own...

Stoner Bobert

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 06:33 PM

Why then is so much smuggled into the US?

Mainly because much of what's grown in the US is "gourmet" pot that sells for upwards of $1000 per ounce. Much of the pot-smoking public can't afford that kind of price. If a kid wants a quarter-ounce for $35 or $40, it's gonna be Mexican, not domestic.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 06:37 PM

NORML says that 20 states have "marijuana tax stamp" laws.

Wikipedia has a summary of the 1937 Federal Stamp Act, which was declared unconstitutional in 1969.

Recent reports are that most of the few state marijuana stamps actually sold are purchased by "stamp collectors."

John

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: number 6
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 06:38 PM

Ebbie .... SJ is Saint John New Brunswick Canada ... growops are very popular with the dealers here ... they rent old dumpy apartments, pay the landlord a cut of the action, tap illegally into the power ... this illegal amatuer wiring to steal the power in combination with these old wood structure buildings is the cause of the fires.

Drug use (not just pot but crack, heroin, dialadin (spelling?)) is a wide spread problem here in the maritimes ... and very much out in the open.

biLL

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 04:30 PM

Considering the things that have been legalised over the past half century, it's really weird that pot is still illegal.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 04:39 PM

35 billion???? So who...ummm...is reporting on how much they are spending? I take estimates like this with 1½ grains of NaCl.

*Bill D...whose TOTAL expenditure on this sort of thing...pot, hash, LSD, Mescaline, etc., is still under $10...and that was 35 years ago. I wonder whose been using my share?

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 04:59 PM

Considering the things that have been legalised over the past half century, it's really weird that pot is still illegal.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: number 6
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 06:12 PM

Bill D .... a dime bag or a nickle bag isn't what it used to be. Pot has kept up with inflation ... with the exception of the Crystal Meth and Oxycontin (hillbilly heroin).

biLL

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 06:17 PM

You can usually spot a marijuana farm in the UK, they're the one with all the pigeons roosting on the roof... Either they have no loft insulation or they're keeping the house extra warm and using every room, including loft space for cuttings.

LTS

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 11:55 AM

A side note on the marijuana crop is a recent complaint that Mexican farmers have switched almost exclusively to a new "hybrid" that is incredibly difficult to kill.

Older varieties would die if cut off to a short stalk, or if sprayed with herbicides. These new plants will grow back from any roots left in place, or if all the leaves are killed by herbicides; so the "enforcers" are being forced to grub the roots out of the ground.

It sounds like horribly disagreeable labor.

(Sorry, no link. On MSNBC a couple of days ago but it's moved and I'd have to search for it.)

John

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: GUEST,Robert
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 01:16 PM

See all them Police helicopters? They're up there using infra-red to spot which houses are markedly hotter than others, LtheS might like to know. They should just look for stoolpigeons.

I once saw the Devil after getting really fuckin stoned.

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 07:09 PM

Hmm. I knew someone (now dead) who grew some hybrid (a different hybrid) once just for the gardener's delight of it, and the damned thing died pretty well as soon as it got out of the sterile hydrophonics environment.

So waht is this new hybrid, sounds pretty?

Subject: RE: Marijuana - Biggest U.S. Cash crop???
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 07:55 PM

89.34 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.