Tue, Dec 14 2010

By Mica Rosenberg

AMATA, Mexico (Reuters) – Farmers growing marijuana in remote Mexican mountains are adopting techniques pioneered in the United States to produce more potent pot and boost profits from the cash crop that is fueling a deadly drug war.

In the fertile valleys of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, soldiers this year found 60 acres of covered greenhouses equipped with sophisticated irrigation and fertilization systems growing seemingly endless rows of marijuana plants. In another part of Sinaloa, the cradle of Mexican drug trafficking, the army recently busted a marijuana lab with potted plants heated day and night by lamps, a change from traditional outdoor cultivation of the crop and a sign drug cartels are using more savvy production methods.

“This is new. They now have technology so the plant will grow faster; we think the techniques are coming from (the United States),” said a soldier commanding a battalion ripping up 5-foot (1.5-meter)-high marijuana plants growing along a river bank near the dusty town of Amata, Sinaloa.

While estimates vary, law enforcement officials on both sides of the border say Mexican drug gangs earn the bulk of their cash from cheap-to-produce marijuana, using revenues to sustain wars against rivals and the government that have killed more than 33,000 people across Mexico in the past four years.

Even as hundreds of troops fan out across Sinaloa ripping up marijuana fields by hand, cartels are one step ahead of the government’s efforts, helping to stifle President Felipe Calderon’s army-led battle against the cartels.

“It’s a cycle,” said another soldier in Amata as he stood by 20,000 pungent marijuana plants doused with diesel and set on fire in a billowing cloud of white smoke. “We come and destroy the fields and move onto another area and they come back and start preparing the land to plant again.”

The new greenhouses are harder for the army to detect with fly-overs since they resemble tomato plots common in Sinaloa.

Contines:  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BE0CC20101215

Dec 13, 2010 15:26 ET

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA–(Marketwire – Dec. 13, 2010) – The Government of Canada is injecting more than $728,000 to help the hemp industry increase production capacity and make new inroads into the U.S. market. The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, made the announcement today on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.

“Canadian farmers and processors are finding tremendous success with hemp thanks to its many nutritional benefits and wide range of uses in pasta, salad dressings and frozen desserts,” said Minister Toews. “This Government is proud to invest in this growing industry so that farmers can continue to expand their markets and develop more products.”

The Government of Canada investment will support three groups:

A $410,000 repayable contribution through the AgriProcessing Initiative for Fresh Hemp Foods to purchase and install new dehulling, oil pressing, and packaging equipment in its new 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility.

A $300,000 repayable contribution through the AgriProcessing Initiative for Hemp Oil Canada to purchase and install new air classification milling and cold press oil expeller technology.

A $18,625 investment through the AgriMarketing program for the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance to enhance its website, hold a strategic planning meeting of its board of directors and take the first steps toward achieving Generally Regarded as Safe status in the U.S.

In 2009, exports of hemp seed and hemp products were valued at more than $8 million, with most exports going to the U.S.

The AgriProcessing Initiative, funded under the Agricultural Flexibility fund as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, provides support to existing processing companies for agri-processing projects that involve the adoption of innovative and new-to-company manufacturing technologies and processes that are essential to sustaining and improving the sector’s position in today’s global marketplace. For more information, visit www.agr.gc.ca/api.

The AgriMarketing program helps producers and processors implement long-term international strategies which include activities such as international market development, consumer awareness and branding and industry-to-industry trade advocacy. To find out more about this program, visit: www.agr.gc.ca/agrimarketing.

For more information, please contact

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Ottawa, Ontario

Media Relations

613-773-7972

1-866-345-7972

or

Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz

Meagan Murdoch

Press Secretary

613-773-1059

By Steve Elliott   Friday, Dec. 3 2010

​A challenge to the marijuana laws of the southern African nation Swaziland is going all the way to the High Court. Dr. Ben Diamini wants cannabis legalized, and he has also called upon the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade to grant him a 10-year exclusive license to grow “dagga,” as the herb is called locallly.

Dr. Diamini pointed out that in the past 5,000 years, no one has died of cannabis anywhere in the world. He wants to High Court to help him get an order allowing him to operate a cannabis processing factory and set up a marketing company, with all dagga growers in Swaziland as suppliers, reports Mtheto Lungu at Africa News. He said that his factory will then solicit orders from local and international pharmacies.

Diamini said he would involve international research institutions to conduct research on processed and raw cannabis.

Holding a doctorate in education and a bachelor of science degree with a major in chemistry, Diamini said cannabis is not a drug and is not addictive. He said it is neither intoxicating nor poisonous.

Swaziland, home to one of the last pure Sativa strains in the world, is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique.

​Cannabis influences a person to sleep, Dr. Diamini said, but the person is never “unable to know what he is doing.” Diamini said that cannabis is safer than either alcohol or tobacco.

“Unlike alcohol, cannabis users to not lose self control; massive amounts just send them to sleep,” Diamini said.

“There has never been a single death directly linked to cannabis use in 5,000 years of history with hundreds of millions of users in the world,” Diamini said. “There is no toxic amount of cannabis. No animal has died of an overdose of cannabis.”

“It is smoked, it is eaten and it is used as an antidote for cases of poisoning,” Diamini’s affidavit reads. “The question of the risk element attached to the use of cannabis will continue to be a matter for the experts, but irrespective of the answer, there exists no just reason to punish cannabis users or those who grow it.”

Diamini is specifically challenging Section 151(1) of the Opium and Habit Forming Drugs Act of 1922.

According to that section, “In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, habit forming drug or drugs means and includes the following as herein defined — cannabis, dagga, instangu, Indian hemp, under whatever name it may be described, known, sold, supplied or otherwise referred to or dealt with, whether the whole or any portion of the plant and all extracts, tinctures or preparations or admixtures thereon.”

The matter is still pending before the High Court.

Swaziland, bordering South Africa on three sides and Mozambique in the east, is home to the Swazi strain of cannabis, one of the few pure sativa strains left in the world, according to OurWeed.

Wellington, New Zealand police will decide Friday whether to charge cannabis legalization activists who pushed a shopping cart full of burning marijuana into the central police station foyer.

Officers will study CCTV footage showing the shopping cart loaded with smoking weed being pushed into the central police station at the height of a legalization protest, reports 3 News.

The protest, part of the Armistice Tour, a nationwide push for cannabis law reform, began Thursday morning with more than 100 people gathering on Parliament’s front lawn to promote the benefits of marijuana over legal substances like alcohol and tobacco.

The protesters gathered outside the Wellington police station about 6 p.m., when the “smoke bomb” was pushed into the foyer, according to Julian Crawford, an activist and candidate with the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.

The shopping cart had plastic cannabis leaves on top, with real marijuana burning underneath, Crawford said.

Police seized the shopping cart and escorted the protesters outside the foyer, according to Crawford.

What had been a “vocal” but peaceful protest started to wind down shortly thereafter, Crawford said.

No one was arrested after the protest moved to the police station, but police will be reviewing the CCTV footage to determine whether anyone will face charges, according to Senior Sergeant Shannon Clifford of Wellington police.

The police also seized the shopping cart as an “exhibit” and were “investigating the contents” of it, Sgt. Clifford said.

“Despite the presence of police and parliamentary security guards this morning at Parliament many of those present were openly smoking cannabis cigarettes,” 3 News reported.