Dec. 18, 2006 ? Weeding through the value of the nation’s cash crops, a study released today states that
marijuana is the U.S.’s most valuable crop and promotes the drug’s legalization and taxation.
Drug enforcement officials say the equation is not that simple.
The report, “Marijuana Production in the United States,” by marijuana policy researcher Jon Gettman, concludes that despite massive eradication efforts at the hands of the federal government, “marijuana has become a pervasive and ineradicable part of the national economy.”
In the report, Gettman, a marijuana-reform activist and leader of the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis, champions a system of legal regulation.
Contrasting government figures for traditional crops ? like corn and wheat ? against the study’s projections for marijuana production, the report cites marijuana as the top cash crop in 12 states and among the top three cash crops in 30.
The study estimates that marijuana production, at a value of $35.8 billion, exceeds the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion).
ABC NEWS: Wow, Far Out MAN!
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