[AuntB]

"The U.N. report says marijuana cultivation remains concentrated in North America, where the largest producers are Mexico and the United States."

Most of the pot being grown in the USA is being done by Mexican Drug Cartels.

Related article:

Mexico suspects ex-drug czar took huge bribes from traffickers

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/11/21/mexico.arrest/index.html

[HighlyOpinionated]

You know the fastest way to resolve this is to make marijuana legal.

Legalize it and the price will drop, people will grow their own, and there’ll be no need for the economy of other Countries to depend on marijuana for export.

I do not and never did use illegal drugs, but if marijuana is THAT much of a problem to us, legalization might just be the answer. It’ll surely put some Countries into a depression greater than ours.

[arderkrag]

"Our reality is that we have large crops, large parcels of crops," said Cesar Aquino, the head of Paraguay's antidrug agency. "They don't dedicate themselves to cultivating marijuana because they are narcotraffickers, but because of economic necessity. Compared to the price of a traditional crop, they can make 500 percent more with this."

Fun fact: This "agency" was only founded five minutes before the story, and disbanded five minutes later, when Cesar went back to his simple peasant farming life.

[SmallGovRepub]

The ONDCP recently reported that Mexican drug trafficking organizations make about $13.8 billion a year selling drugs to Americans, close to $8.6 billion from marijuana alone.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2008-02-21-2221217072_x.htm

http://pushingback.com/blogs/pushing_back/archive/2008/02/25/40553.aspx

[shuckmaster]

A law banning something that grows naturally from a seed is about as dumb as a law can get.