Pot is called biggest cash crop (in entire country!)

[WhiteTara]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pot18dec18,0,5264617.story?coll=la-home-headlines
SACRAMENTO — For years, activists in the marijuana legalization movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop. Now they're citing government statistics to prove it.

A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops.

California is responsible for more than a third of the cannabis harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined — and marijuana is the top cash crop in a dozen states, the report states.

The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past quarter century despite an exhaustive anti-drug effort by law enforcement.
snip
Nationwide, the estimated cannabis production of $35.8 billion exceeds corn ($23 billion), soybeans ($17.6 billion) and hay ($12.2 billion), according to Gettman's findings.

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[GreenZoneLT]

1. Thanks, War on Drugs!

Thanks for lining the pockets of organized crime!

Sheesh. The damn stuff is a weed. Leave it alone, and potheads could just gather their own from the ditches. It might cut into alcohol profits a little, but other effects: nil.

[bitchkitty]

11. Hey, that's not true!

I mean, it is a weed, but gather it from a ditch? No thanks, I'll get it from my Oregon caregiver, who nurtures it under the proper lights and gives it lots of organic love until harvest and cure, at which time it arrives in my little house, all green and crystal-ly, live-giving and just plain yummy...

Ditch weed? Uh uh...

[Fovea]

27. Stroke survivor in Kansas

where it was the number 2 crop in acreage in ww2 and before.

I live with chronic pain from the stroke, and have other problems it would help.
But in Kansas, there is no compassionate use law.

Strike that, there is no compassion in Jesusland, period.
Blessed Yule.

[0rganism]

23. more "herb" than "weed", IMHO

although it does grow wild, people seem to prefer the various domestic breeds...

[lvx35]

2. decriminalize it! nt

[Trajan]

3. If it were legalized ...

And it should be ...

The value would drop, and it would lose its status as 'most valuable crop' ...

The value is artificially inflated through enforcement of lame drug laws ....

[reorg]

30. not necessarily true

there would still be a distribution chain, and there would still be large producers making millions. If the numbers cited in the article are anything to go by - and they are probably very conservative - the consumer price in the US is about the same as in the Netherlands.

[Patchuli]

32. Big pharma

doesn't want to get undercut too! These bahstads are nervous!

[Wise Doubter]

31. re: The value would drop, and it would lose its status as 'most valuable crop' ...

I don`t agree.

If the gubment were to grow it and sell it - even at a 10-20% price reduction, the revenue generated would STILL deem it as most valuable.


The demand would not decrease.

[Quantess]

4. Someone said in another thread:

Entertainment and War are pretty much the only American products these days. Well, it looks like marijuana is another big commodity.

[sendero]

8. Yeah...

... put that under "entertainment" :)

[Exultant Democracy]

21. Well the reason it is worth so much is the War part

I think there is a fair argument to be made for both war and entertainment.

[ixion]

5. can we please legalize it now and end the misery?

millions of people have their lives ruined, not because they smoke pot, but because of crazed prohibition laws that put otherwise non-violent offenders behind bars. The effect here is two-fold: it both clogs the prison system and ruins the lives of those tossed into that particular meat grinder.


Please, haven't enough people suffered? Haven't enough otherwise hard-working, tax-paying folks had their lives shattered by this so-called
War on Drugs? Here is a simple fact: Homo-sapiens are hardwired with the penchant for altering their reality. It is part of who we are, and the underlying reason, at it's most basic level, why people drink coffee and alcohol, and why they smoke. It's why people drink a can of soda. It's why people jog and play in the park (on the swings, for example).

It's who we are.

So can we please, please, please stop tearing our society apart with destructive drug laws?

[underpants]

10. Legalize it and tax it

Yeah I know all them dope smokin' hippies in the blue states pay all the taxes anyway but hey why not make them pay more!?!??! (this argument can not be applied in the case of class warfare 'cause it's not fair)

[havocmom]

19. Heard on radio a few years back: Pot smokers in prison populations

are NOT VIOLENT like drinkers often are.

Hmm, lock up a lot of young pot heads and you have a fairly docile, easy to manage pool of VERY cheap labor for US corporations who want to add "MADE IN USA" to their marketing plan without the cost of actually paying USA wages.

And, yes, states DO compete to get contracts for labor for their prison populations. Low bidder wins.

War on drugs? More than just bigger profits for the Big Drug Lords. It's another taxpayer paid subsidy to big business in the form of We the People pay for the living expenses so corporations can pay pennies on the minimum wage dollar.

Made in USA... using pretty much the same slave labor methods China practices.

Oh, and if the weed were legal, Big Pharma couldn't sell as much of their pricey drugs nor the drugs to help us deal with the side effects of the pricey drugs.

Ingredients for Heaven and Hell both available here and now. We have let the ultra rich & corrupt pick the latter.

[noel adamson]

6. Busting potheads and plants is much easier than...

...busting real criminals (not to mention safer!) and helps Americans remain the most imprisoned people on earth.

[sweetheart]

20. which explains this graph

The gratuitous failure of the drugs war to do anything except
arm a wicked and corrupt police force to the teeth with vigilante justice.

[Massachusetts]

7. Whoa Dude!

[catmandu57]

9. All I want

Is to be able to grow a few plants in peace, I'm not hurting anyone, sitting here in my house toking up a bowl every now and then.

[bitchkitty]

12. Amen! n/t

.

[Joe Bacon]

13. Wow it brings a whole new meaning to GREEN ACRES!

Now one understands why Arnold Ziffell acted the way he did :evilgrin:

[NC_Nurse]

14. Alcohol kills so many people

and ruins so many people's health and lives. It's a mystery why it's legal and pot isn't.
All politics, I assume.

[Megahurtz]

29. But it's Smoking!!!

:silly:

[BlueManDude]

15. Then send some good bud up to Boston.

[rodeodance]

16. the Feds could make a mint if Tax this crop instead of put people in jail.

[noonwitch]

17. It's time to legalize and tax it (use the revenue to fund schools)

The revenue raised could be really useful for struggling school districts; for economic development in poor communities, both rural and urban; and for college scholarships and grants for poor kids.

We could also use some of the money to fund drug treatment programs for those addicted to hard drugs like crack, heroin and meth.

[thingfisher]

28. In a sane nation maybe, but not in America!

I think it is obvious that most common Americans have no problem with decriminalizing marijuana. The fact that Leno openly jokes about his bandleaders use of the weed tell us that no one is seriously worried about it. Head shops sell bongs, pipes, papers, etc, legally as long as everyone pretends they are using the appliances for tobacco. the level of hypocracy on this issue is so astronomical it cannot be described adequately.

Once again I must point to the intimate relationship between pot and other drug smuggling and distribution activities and the CIA and other intelligence agencies around the world. Tgis is well documented. Our government will never consent to liberalize pot laws because to do so would undermine the very profitable nature of the illegal activities upon which the intelligence agencies have grown to love.

Oh yeah, the American power structure doesn't give a shit about "struggling school districts; for economic development in poor communities, both rural and urban; and for college scholarships and grants for poor kids".

[chknltl]

34. You are currently at post #420

welcome to DU thingfisher :eyes: :party:

[Ezlivin]

18. No advertising, no tax breaks, no PR, no headquarters, no CEO

And yet it makes more money than legal crops?

Are MBAs learning about this way of organizing and running a business?

Over $30 billion a year is wasted on the so-called War on Drugs. Time to stop the madness and make better use of taxpayer's money.

[Speaker]

24. That $30 billion also doesn't include...

the almost unimaginable loss of productivity this country suffers from having so many people locked up for smoking weed.

Those folks could otherwise be living productive lives and paying taxes instead of being a drain on the system.

[YankeyMCC]

22. And it isn't even subsidized like corn nt

[mainegreen]

25. The police in my birth county decided to stop enforcing MJ laws.

So much is grown there, so many people using, and so little crime is associated with it they just up and decided that they had better things to do than enforce some pointless law.

Especially with what is going on with Meth/Oxy.

[jaksavage]

26. Farm aid

Allow the smallest and neediest of our farming community to grow the product. Control it like alchohol or rx from your doc. Tax the hell out of it and put the procedes back into prevention and education.
Just don't let the kleptocracy get ahold of it... too late.

[chknltl]

33. The S.H..A.T. Plan

Well that's interresting....So if the "war" on Drugs led to Pot being America's number one cash crop then what exactly is the "war" on terrorism going to create? Does this mean we members of the DU need to rethink our "war" on bushco?

Ok here's an idea... First we give the growers the chance to register with the Dept. of Homeland Security. Should they choose to do this the DEA will overlook their criminal ways so long as they pay 10% of their products into DHS. (The old "Keep us happy and you get to stay happy or else you get a visit from Vinnie" technique). Then DHS will take this "gift" of pot and turn it over to the terrorists thereby rendering them far too mellow to go out of their house's for anything other than munchies. The next step is for Halliburton, (you already knew they would wind up with the contract anyway so why fight it), can open up a chain of fast food joints throughout the Middle East thereby keeping the terrorists well stocked with cheese-dogs, Doritos and Big Gulps.

This will keep DHS happy because they add on a whole new culture of people to rip off. This will keep the terrorists happy because they will be getting free weed. This will keep America happy because the terrorists will be too stoned on all that high grade dope that America is churning out these days to get off their couches. This will make Halliburton happy because they can be ripping off the folks in the Middle East by providing them with bad CHEEP food for ridiculous prices. This will keep the bushwhackers happy because they will have unleashed another bio-weapon on the Middle East. This will keep the fundies happy because....well never-mind that, they won't get happy until that rapture thingy rolls around. Total costs to the people of America=$0.00, better yet all the participants get to act like crooks so it's a win win situation for all.

Now all that is needed is a name, how about calling it the: Stinky Hippy's Against Terrorism Plan! If this works, and how can it not, the next phase will be to spread S.H.A.T. to Iran and Syria and eventually America can dump our S.H.A.T. on North Korea. Imagine the possibilities for world peace....
:patriot:






In your face Henry Kissinger!

[Contrite]

35. 12 Reasons to Legalize Drugs (and wipe out related crime)

http://www.totse.com/en/drugs/legal_issues_of_drug_use/12reasns.html

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

36. Dude, we could legalize it for Export!

You know, in Europe, it is almost impossible to find good bud, and it is really expensive. Whereas hashish is available, although the quality is very spotty. And supply is only intermittent because the flic are just as fucked-up as they are in the USA about non-violent drug use.

But, frankly, although I have had some very fine French bud, the US has the best quality and the greatest quantity on the planet. Believe me. The finest toke I ever had was a strain we called "Untied Thai" that my buddy dealt up in Portland years ago (he knew a tugboat mate who had connections). But now, the green coming out of the fertile fields of Cali is over-the-top potent, mellow, two-hit shit that would sell for a pretty penny overseas - if it were legal.

The cash register is ringing in my ears! We could pay of the national debt in 10 years just with the proceeds for pot. So Jah Say.

I'm going to email Pelosi right away.

[Contrite]

37. Dude, I like the way you think!

Sounds like that good bud didn't damage any of YOUR brain cells.

Wish I could sample some of that California green. Can't get any good shit around here.

[gulfcoastliberal]

38. Lil r-nuggets of green gold. Money literally growing on a tree.

I can't call ita Bush.

[Wcross]

39. Legalize-NO TAXATION!

Why would I want the government to become involved in my garden? Should the government be able to tax my tomatoes and summer squash? Growing marijuana is not rocket science. There is no reason you should have to buy it from a store.