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.
I think we're winning the War on Drugs! ROTFL
Reminds me of the old Bloom County cartoon:
Frame 1:
Senator Befellow: A farmer! A man of the earth! My heart bleeds for good folks like you. Going through hard times, are you?
Farmer: Nope, doin dandy.
Frame 2:
Senator Bedfellow: Good! This is an excellent batch of corn you have here...
Farmer: 'Taint corn. It's dope.
Frame 3:
Senator Bedfellow: Pardon?
Farmer: Here, take some home to the wife.
I remember $25/lb and they talk about gasoline prices going up!
Yeah they might be in those joke money machine treatment centers, but doing what? Attempting to break a psychological addiction. Hahahahaha!
$100 Billion in tax revenue on $35 Billion dollar industry???? Some interesting math, there.
On a product that can be produced at home by a consumer more easily than tobacco or beer.
That'll work just fine.
No wonder there is a class disparity in the USA.....someone's spending all their money on this....
DAVES NOT HERE!!!
Dave who?
I don't know about that. There were no comparisons between countries that I saw. Maybe the "10-fold increase in U.S. marijuana production" mentioned in the article is the result of Mexican growers cultivating their crops in our national parks.
I wonder how this survery was conducted? Do they have a list of known growers/distributors/dealers to contact?
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.
If it were legal to grow marijuana it wouldn't have a 17,000% markup caused entirely by the idiotic, unworkable drug prohibition in this country.
Meaning marijuana represents about 15% of the illegal drug market -- so much for "putting the drug dealers out of business" by legalizing marijuana.
Hell, they'd never even notice.
I have heard that as being pretty much common knowledge.
But tell me, why did I have a couple buddies in college that just COULD NOT STOP smoking weed?
I'm in the wrong bidness.
"You mean we're smoking dogsh*t, man?"
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