Cannabis Country

In the summer of 2002, Laura said something like, I wonder what's in the Golden Triangle? So we contacted the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, UNODC, which coincidentally had just decided to bring some journalists--who turned out to be us--into Special Region #2, controlled by the United Wa State Army, which the U.S. State Department at the time called the largest armed narco-trafficking group in the world. We went in January of 2003. Though a bunch of thugs, the leaders of the Wa--a Chinese ethnic minority--liked Laura. We got great footage of the UNODC's efforts to convince the Wa stop producing opium, plus even wackier footage of Laura singing karoake and going bowling with the Wa leaders. We made a half-hour PBS documentary, Journey to the Golden Triangle, which the UNODC guys liked a lot... and so, getting to Cannabis Country, when Xavier Boauen, the head field guy for the UNODC in Myanmar, was transferred to Morocco, he invited us to watch him conducting a survey of cannabis cultivation in the Rif Mountains in July of 2004... And so that's another example of how access breeds access. As for UNODC efforts to curb the cultivation of illegal drugs, in both cases, they got a boost from market forces. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, opium cultivation has surged--they produce well over 100% of the world's needs--and as a result, kind of annihilated the opium business in the Golden Triangle in the way that imported clothes destroyed the U.S. textile industry. In Morocco, cannabis cultivation got so out of control that the Moroccans glutted the European hashish market, drove down prices, and were obliged to cultivate less the next year.

First off, to Quicova, I didn't think this pod was trying to portray Morrocans as a "bad, drug-dealing" people at all. In fact, I'm not quite sure how you managed to get that impression from this pod, but I digress.

I love that this concentrated on the ground-level of the drug trade, the farmers. Then at the end, it really hits home when you list the value of the crop -- and then the percent that goes to the poor families growing it.

Makes you wonder, if for no other reason than economic, the effect that legalizing/regulating the drug trade would have.

I found it interesting the final stats in the pod said only 2% of profits make it into the pockets of the small farmer. The interesting part is the model is the same for the legal stimulant caffeine, derived from the coffee plant.

Viva nescafe... drink fair-trade? I'm still sceptic.

What I wouldn't give to live there....

It is definetly a big problem Morocco faces. Farmers are faced with the temptation of growing cannabis and make much more than wheat. The region needs more attention from the current gov. It was forgotten under the last king's rule due to a separatist mov't that was there then.
I think taking a shot of the big house and saying how dangerous it was is an exaggeration. Moroccan roads are safe.

This report shows exactly the truth about this region in Morocco. I am from Tetouan, a city on the North of Morocco and it's called "Las Vegas" because all the narcotrafic bussinessman spend their money there....and all the cannabis is processed in the Rif Montains and then exported to Europe. But I think that at the moment Morocco is not the first producer, I was told that it is Afghanistan.

I was hoping she was going to explore if these poor farmers utilized their crops for anything more than these traffickers coming around and shipping it off. They said it was the only thing that paid well enough but I wonder if they used it for anything.

I also wonder what would happen if we shipped them some real nice potent seeds and had them strip out the males this time.

Really interesting. If America legalised cannabis now, it would do them a massive favour economically. The journalist wasn't the best but still a nice insight.