[Editor’s note: Call it a terrible waste of police time, an unnecessary risk to law enforcement personnels’ lives, a loud and destructive invasion of one’s curtilage, the proverbial taxpayer-funded pursuit of a needle in a haystack, an unintended government-provided price support for an illegal and untaxed commercial market, or a bizarre police ruse where a valuable agricultural product—industrial hemp; which is even subsidized by the European Union to cultivate as an industrial fiber crop—is paraded out in front of unknowing (or not…) media who dutifully snap photos, capture video and write about any one law enforcement project involved in regional domestic cannabis eradication as being ‘successful’.
Call it what ever you choose, but it is that time of year again to see where and in what quantities the DEA claims it whacks and stacks outdoor and indoor cannabis eradicated within America’s borders, even though, as noted below, the DEA stopped honestly reporting the ratio of World War II-era feral hemp eradicated to actual cultivated cannabis plants (for recreational or medical uses) in 2006.]
by Matthew Donigian, NORML legal intern, University of Illinois — College of Law
In the most recent DEA Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program Statistical Report, the DEA indicated that over 10 million marijuana plants throughout the United States were destroyed by the agency. According to this report, most of the eradicated plants were found in California, followed by West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Washington State. The states with the least eradicated plants were Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Delaware.
The report also detailed the number of eradicated plants that were being cultivated indoors. The states with the highest number of eradicated indoor plants were California, Florida, Washington, Michigan, and Ohio. California is the obvious leader here, since its highly successful medical marijuana market has been the primary target of DEA operations. However, proponents of merciless penalties for cultivation of marijuana in Florida may be surprised to see the state in the number two spot, ahead of both Michigan and Washington State, two of the largest medical marijuana jurisdictions. It seems that the policy touted by supporters as the silver bullet to large-scale marijuana production in the state has failed.
This should not come as a surprise to those familiar with the rhetoric supporting the failed War on Drugs. For the past 40 years, the federal government has promised decreased crime, overdose deaths, and addiction rates as a result of the punitive and prohibitive approach of the war and drugs, but has failed to deliver these results. In 2009, Florida drastically increased its penalties for cultivation of marijuana, which punish the cultivation of 25 or more marijuana plants with up to 15 years of imprisonment. Much like federal marijuana prohibition, increasing penalties in Florida in order to decrease cultivation has been an abject failure. In the most recent DEA eradication report, Florida ranked second in eradicated indoor marijuana plants, with 51,366 plants eradicated in 2010, only 1265 fewer plants than were eradicated per year from 1998-2008 (on average). In addition there were nearly 500 more arrests associated with marijuana eradication in 2010 than there were on average between the years of 1998-2008.
In addition, since 2006, the report excludes statistics on the number of “ditchweed” or non-cultivated feral marijuana plants, eradicated each year. According to the DEA, eradication of ditchweed is still taking place but the agency refrains from reporting the number of eradicated plants, making it difficult to estimate the resources spent on this practice. The federal government seems to have misinterpreted criticism that the practice was a waste of resources; critics were not upset with the governments reporting of “ditchweed”, but rather the practice of seeking out and burning non-smokeable and non-cultivated cannabis plants. The last published eradication data for “ditchweed” indicated that over 200 million or 98 percent of all plants eradicated were feral marijuana. The current practice of non-reporting provides the American people with little information on where DEA resources are being utilized, and effectively hides the amount of money spent on an unintelligible practice.
Increasing penalties against marijuana crimes and eradicating marijuana plants does nothing to prevent the use of marijuana. Since the war on drugs began the potency of marijuana has increased, as has the amount of marijuana grown. Similarly, the war on drugs has not even been effective at reducing teenage use. According to the National Institute on Drug abuse 41.7% of 12th graders had tried marijuana in 1995. By 2008 this number rose to 42.6%.
Marijuana prohibition has clearly failed. Hiding eradication statistics and putting responsible people in jail will not change that.
our reps no longer understand WE THE PEOPLE!! there must be one reason our reps let so many lives be ruined over marijuana. someone’s getting fat of it. Lets drug test our political leaders and see how many of them pass.
In short – these Keystone Cops and their whacky overlords have to show the American public the results of all those taxpayer dollars – which in fact – are being flushed down the toilet. The truth is – they’re just enforcing the fact that those dollars are being wasted – all of which are on their salaries. This all goes to show one how very disturbed these people are. Let’s say a prayer for them – because – if anyone ever needed a prayer – it’s them. They’re a crying shame.
How can things change with such hard headed people running our country? Do we vote for change? Well Ron Paul is the only one that has some common sense as far as the failed drug war goes but from what I understand he doesn’t have a chance. That leaves Obama or a dictator republican to choose from. Where do we go from here? Either way seems hopeless.
Just wait, please.
The first domino has been cast by the same individuals that repeatedly cry out for more restrictions on anything possible, subjagating Rights of American Citizens as prescribed in our Constitution.
Now that all entities in the domino trail, have been firmly set in place, it won’t be too much longer after that, that you people will be looking for new work!
“Patience my child” quoted by just about every parent on the planet.
ps I was a one-time volunteer for NORML in the ’70s @ zip 92117
Late’ a’iight8?
“Marijuana prohibition has clearly failed. Hiding eradication statistics and putting responsible people in jail will not change that”.
This phrase (among others certainly) should be shared.
A discussion is warranted. To not allow the people a discussion is to violate their rights.
How? We are the jury. Laws are often weighed by how in line they are with Mr or Mrs reasonable person. Organizations like LEAP are highly regarded precisely because they have departed from the status quo in favor of being a reasonable American.
Considering recent Supreme Court decisions of late, every American is being effected by prohibition laws…
…and, We don’t have the right to a discussion?
How come the same government that grows marijuana for a select group of patients, arrests the others. What is going on here?
These national guard and other government agencies used in the eradication program are probably, many of them, getting in their two weeks of annual training in the summer. All of these people still would like to be employed after cannabis legalization. They’re going to have to be willing to travel or be stationed abroad to oversee the U.S. interests in the legal international cannabis trade. Hunt down different drugs.
Cypress would be my geographic choice of locating the operation and banking and intelligence centers, an American bank of course. The Greeks and the Turks will have to get over it and work together on it if they want to get into the E.U. and the island is prime for a major U.S. military command.
You can’t whitewash the amount of money the U.S. needs. The rich can have their tax cuts, somehow. People want cannabis regulated and taxed, and the money can come from there instead. It means instant jobs, everywhere. Legal cannabis. Traded in U.S. dollars.
Cannabis, it’s what happens when Realpolitik meets Abeitspolitik.
As the DEA continues its eradication of Cannabis as a schedule 1 drug. It has licensed over 50 pharmaceutical company cultivation programs. These licenses can only be considered if Cannabis is considered a minimum schedule 2 substance.
It doesn’t make sense to destroy it here so we have no choice but to get it from Mexico and Canada.
Fighting cannabis, marijuana, and or hemp is a complte waste of time, effort, and money. If you don’t want to use it….fine…don’t use it. Please don’t make me pay for a benign herb to be criminalized. Relegalize marijuana now!
So the goal is to put cannabis on the extinct species list? Forget the cost, its just plain immoral.
The pollen from these feral hemp plants would ruin an otherwise magnificent crop of marijuana. It actually appears they are doing us a favor.
You will NEVER Eradicate cannabis in this country. The cannabis seed is very hardy.I cannot believe how stupid this goverment is!!
In the late 60s I used to go down to the Potomac river near Mount Vernon. There was plant up and down the river that were descendents from George Washington’s garden. A pretty good Indica that had 200 years to acclimatize themselves to the environment. We would just clip the colas and still go home with duffel bags full. I would plant the seeds with very good Sativa’s from southern Mexico. Some patches I never had the need to harvest. I went for a hike a few years ago. Birds and the wind have turned patches into hundreds of acres. This is a legacy that was left for generations to come. I am sure that they are enjoyed I only hope that greed of smokers as well as the law let them flourish.
The War on Drugs is a tremendous success! It makes growing and distributing the plant highly profitable for certain market participants. It has made citizens lose respect for the government and police. It has given the government and police the rationale and means to jail thousands and thousands of said disrespectful citizens in its new high growth prison industry facilities. It has made necessary expenditures of billions (trillions?) $ in police and military equipment, benefiting the manufacturers of said equipment.
The nation suffers, but there are many who benefit tremendously. They are called criminals, just not according to the code.