Whoa Dude!
Posted on 12/18/2006 2:00:49 PM PST by kddid
U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion 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 Organization 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.
Gettman's figures were based on several government reports between 2002 and 2005 estimating the United States produced more than 10,000 metric tons of marijuana annually.
He calculated the producer price per pound of marijuana at $1,606 based on national survey data showing retail prices of between $2,400 and $3,000 between 2001 and 2005.
The total value of 10,000 metric tons of marijuana at $1,606 per pound would be $35.8 billion.
By comparison, the United States produced an average of nearly $23.3 billion worth of corn annually from 2003 to 2005, $17.6 billion worth of soybeans, $12.2 billion worth of hay, nearly $11.1 billion worth of vegetables and $7.4 billion worth of wheat, the report said.
Gettman said the 10-fold increase in U.S. marijuana production, from 1,000 metric tons in 1981 to 10,000 metric tons in 2006, showed the country was failing to control marijuana by making its cultivation and use illegal.
"Marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the economy of the United States," he said. "The contribution of this market to the nation's gross domestic product is overlooked in the debate over effective control."
"Like all profitable agricultural crops marijuana adds resources and value to the economy," he added. "The focus of public policy should be how to effectively control this market through regulation and taxation in order to achieve immediate and realistic goals, such as reducing teenage access."
Riley said illegal drug use was a "serious part of the economy," but he rejected the notion of an economic argument for legalizing marijuana. He said marijuana use was an "inherently harmful activity" with serious physical and mental health consequences. He said more American teens were in treatment centers for marijuana dependency than for all other drugs combined.
Imagine if it was taxed like tobacco.
Probably $100 Bil in tax revenue.
"marijuana dependency"
No such animal!
Whoa Dude!
What's a dime bag going for these days?
"He said more American teens were in treatment centers for marijuana dependency than for all other drugs combined."
Where they will graduate with a whole new set of connections for other, harder drugs. Sending a kid to rehab for pot is like demanding they meet more drug users and find out about harder drugs.
I s'pose them country boys is still a-settin' on that sack of wildwood flower seeds!
Hoo-ray for American initiative!
UH what?
Dave's not here, man!
Can you imagine if it was actually legal to grow marijuana? Each field would need to be surrounded by a 10 foot razor wire fence. It'd be as if beer grew on trees.
bump for later
Oh please.
And what % of those in "treatment" are there as a result of a court order? Probably close to 100 ...
LEGALIZE IT ALREADY!
Boy that ol WOD thing is really working ...
I imagine if marijuana were legalized, the price per pound would plummet, which could significantly reduce the $35B figure.
Just an observation.
In other words, perhaps the author of the study was a little toked up when he knocked it out.
Now if I could only remember wut I did with it.
"We beat the foreign competition coming from Central and South America!"
We don't make cocaine here.
Home Brew, Home Grown, Home Slice.
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