How America Lost the Drug War

New in Rolling Stone, How America Lost the Drug War.

Last week, Columnist Froma Harrop exposed the failure of the war on drugs.

If two people do it, is it a movement?

Marijuana is California's Largest Crop

The Ecology Center reports:

According to a 2006 report by Dr. Jon B. Gettman of Shepherd University, California leads the nation in indoor and outdoor marijuana production. It is the state's largest cash crop, generating nearly $14 billion, more than grapes, vegetables, and hay combined. Moreover, production has increased ten-fold in the last 25 years.

There can be significant environmental repurcussions.

Some operations go beyond the careful placement of grow-bags and pots. "Some bulldoze large areas of land to create a sunny clearing, often at or near the tops of hills," Allman says. Creeks and rivers below are flooded with silt once winter rains come. LeDoux has witnessed first-hand the devastation this can cause to breeding salmon and other fish. Erosion and contamination combined with fertilizer-laden runoff and water drafting does not bode well for fish species in some of Northern California's most remote creeks and rivers. "The cumulative effect of illegal marijuana cultivation on fish in these streams is a serious issue," she says. "We need a think-tank on this whole problem. It needs to be addressed as soon as possible."

It's not the medical marijuana growers and providers causing the problems.

"There is a serious distinction to be made. Many medical [legal] marijuana growers are some of the most responsible citizens around. They buy soil in bulk, use rat traps instead of poison, water with timers and drip systems. They have very little physical impact on the land. I'm not up against legal growers. The ones I'm concerned with are the ones polluting the environment in the name of huge profits. The plants are seasonal, but the environmental damage lasts forever."

NORML Key West 2007

The NORML drug defense lawyers are back in Key West. We're at the Pier House Resort. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop by and say hello.