Indoor Cannabis Cultivation on the rise
11-28-07 | Rob Kampia, Statesman Journal
Your neighbour could be a marijuana grower
Would you like to see criminal gangs growing marijuana in your community, making large profits, which in turn would fund other criminal activities?
A new federal report says that our current marijuana policies are actually making this more likely. If you live in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, California, or parts of New York State, you may be particularly at risk.
The report is the U.S. Department of Justice's "National Drug Threat Assessment 2008," released to the public on November 8. The only mention it got in the press had to do with supposed shortages of cocaine in some areas, but the report's findings on marijuana will affect many more Americans. Marijuana, after all, is far and away the most commonly used illegal drug.
Marijuana growing indoors.
Overall, the report finds little progress in our nation's 70-year-long war on marijuana, reporting: "The threat associated with marijuana trafficking and abuse is rising, largely the result of a growing demand for high-potency marijuana as well as a concomitant increase in the drug's availability. An increase in domestic cannabis cultivation by DTOs [drug trafficking organizations] contributes to this threat, particularly the recent expansion of cultivation operations by Mexican, Asian, and Cuban DTOs."
Marijuana cultivation, the DOJ notes, is moving out of traditional locations and into areas that used to have relatively little. And more and more is being done indoors, often "hiding in plain sight" in suburban homes.
This isn't because authorities aren't aggressively hunting down and destroying cultivation operations. The report notes that authorities seized a record 5.2 million marijuana plants last year, a nearly 25 percent increase over 2005 and a near doubling since 2000. These aggressive "eradication" campaigns are making the problem worse -- pushing the producers into new locations while facilitating an increase in marijuana potency.
Don't take my word for it. Here is what the DOJ report says:
"Indoor cannabis cultivation is increasing in some areas of the country as growers attempt to avoid outdoor eradication and attain higher profits through production of indoor-grown, high-potency marijuana from best seed genetics. Federal, state, and local law enforcement reporting indicates that vigorous outdoor cannabis eradication efforts have caused many marijuana producers, particularly Caucasian groups, to relocate indoors even in leading outdoor grow states such as California and Tennessee. In addition to the reduced risk of detection, indoor cannabis cultivators benefit from higher profits because cultivation is a year-round process with four to six harvests per year and controlled conditions that enable growers to produce high-quality marijuana that commands higher prices in most drug markets."
What's happening is simple economics. Like it or not, marijuana is popular: Literally 100 million Americans are willing to admit to government survey-takers that they've used marijuana. In a capitalist economy, marijuana profiteers will find a way to serve that immense market, and when police chase them out of one area, the profiteers simply find better ways to hide. Increasingly, the new federal report notes, that's in suburban homes that are being converted into hydroponic gardens.
After decades of "eradication" campaigns, marijuana remains America's top cash crop, with these campaigns only driving growers into increasingly dangerous locales. Is there a better way?
There's a one-word answer to that question: Wine.
Like marijuana, wine is an intoxicant. Like marijuana, wine is not for kids. And, like marijuana, wine is an agricultural product and a major industry in some states.
Have you ever heard of criminal gangs planting vineyards in suburban neighborhoods or national parks? Of course not. Wine grape growers are legally regulated and must obey an array of safety, environmental, and labor standards. Their profits are taxed, and none of their proceeds go to criminal gangs.
We could do the same thing with marijuana. All it takes is the political will. Or, we could continue on our present path and help generate money for criminal gangs.
* The report is the U.S. Justice Department's "National Drug Threat Assessment 2008," which was released to the public on November 8 and is available at www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs25/25921/25921p.pdf
Rob Kampia is executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, DC, www.mpp.org
Back to Cannabis News
Back to Cannabis TV