In South Africa I uncover a newer stronger strain of cannabis being smuggled to Britain. Meth and Madness in Mexico: Stacey Dooley Investigates I, BBC 2009
Laura Ling: What do most of the people do for work here?
Man on street: They grow Marijuana. Vanguard: Mexican Drug Wars
Cannabis is a plant with healing power .... A long and controversial story. In America it became Public Enemy No 1. Marijuana: Hooked, 2000
Marijuana was one of the most feared substances in America consuming billions of dollars in their war on drugs. ibid.
The newspapers then targeted marijuana as the next menace. ibid.
Exports of cannabis from southern Africa (chiefly to Europe) are growing faster than from any other producer region in the world, now accounting for about 10 per cent of global production. Misha Glenny, McMafia
In BC [British Columbia] fifty pounds of Bud is worth $55,000 at wholesale prices. In Spokane, two and a half hours from the border, its value had almost doubled to $100k. ibid.
An industry that the BC Organised Crime Agency valued at $4 billion in 2001. ibid.
Around 100,000 workers are engaged both full-time and part-time in the cultivation, distribution, smuggling and retail of marijuana. ibid.
Western Canada is home to the largest per capita concentration of organised criminal syndicates in the world. ibid.
Many of those who once worked in the traditional industries have moved into marijuana. ibid.
At the beginning of the 1990s, the best yield from indoor grow-ops was about three-quarters of a pound per one-kilowatt lamp. The most recent advance in cultivation techniques has more than doubled this to over two pounds per harvest cycle. ibid.
In the key marijuana-growing areas, parties supporting the decriminalisation or legalisation of marijuana won huge majorities. ibid.
Can you give me your assurance, Sir, as our future Home Secretary, that cannabis will not be legalised however harmless it turns out to be and that under your firm stewardship the police will once again have as much time to investigate crime as they now have to investigate each other? Henry Root, The Henry Root Letters, to William Whitelaw 28th March 1979
It’s illegal – isn’t that all we need to know? Rumpole of the Bailey s1e2: Rumpole and the Alternative Society, Judge, ITV 1978
You say the words Legalise Cannabis, but people hear the words, Make heroin compulsory for six year olds. Mark Thomas Comedy Product s2e1, Channel 4 1998
The law pertaining to cannabis seed is slightly different from the law pertaining to cannabis … possession of the seed is legal … the seed in fact is used all over the place. Mark Thomas Comedy Product s2e4
In fact it wasn’t only legal, it just happened to be one the largest agricultural crops in the world. The Union: The Business Behind Getting High, 2007
Canada’s hemp was the largest agricultural crop in the world. ibid.
Most of the textiles made in the USA were made of hemp. ibid.
World War II: Hemp For Victory. ibid. public information film
Here in British Columbia alone, it’s speculated that the illegal BC marijuana trade brings in upwards of $7 billion annually. ibid.
Marijuana. The devil’s harvest. The assassin of youth. Good kids go bad. This was the portrayal of pot for nearly a century. Marijuana Nation, National Geographic 2012
Marijuana has never been more valuable or potent. ibid.
The most widely used illicit substance in the world. ibid.
Today the US Drug Enforcement Agency classified marijuana alongside heroin as a schedule 1 drug. ibid.
More people in Britain smoke cannabis than ever before … Over two million spark up every month. Stoned in Suburbia, Sky One 2005
You can buy the paraphernalia to smoke it in almost every British town and city. ibid.
The Trump administration has appointed an extreme marijuana prohibitionist, Pennsylvania representative Tom Marino, to serve as US Drugs Tsar … A rabid hardliner on drugs policy. The Corbett Report: Trump Reignites War on Weed, James Corbett online 2017
This industry is worth £8 billion in the UK each year. Illegal drugs are used by over 5 million people. There are at least 20,000 dealers in London alone. Drugland I: Cocaine, Cannabis & Ecstasy, caption, BBC 2005
This is the story of a hidden industry. It is set in Britain’s capital where one in five young people regularly use recreation drugs. ibid.
Recreational drugs … represent about 95% of illegal drug use in Britain. ibid.
The largest market for dealers is selling marijuana to four million smokers in the UK. ibid.
In the USA there’s been a medicinal cannabis revolution. It is now legal in half the country’s fifty states to treat illness. In Britain the drug is illegal with the government saying it’s proven to damage mental and physical health … Many people believe in the medicinal power of cannabis. Drugs Map of Britain IV: Dying for Weed, BBC 2016
There is a big demand all over the UK for his cannabis oils. ibid.
These days pot is big business. But with billions to be made what’s the one thing that can bring the green rush to a grinding halt: it’s the federal government. Marijuana Revolution, History 2017
Twenty-three states and the district of Columbia already allow medicinal marijuana use. And since 2012 four of those states have made it legal to buy and sell recreational marijuana. ibid.
A growth rate that would even outpace the Smartphone. ibid.
The campaign against the so-called Evil Weed culminated in Congress passing the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937. ibid.
The federal ban on pot keeps big business waiting in the wings. ibid.
It’s the country’s favourite illegal drug. Nearly half of Americans have tried marijuana at least once. Drugged s1e1: High on Marijuana, National Geographic 2013
Smoking marijuana may increase the risk of having a heart attack. ibid.
Our bodies are hard-wired to react to cannabis. ibid.
Nearly 80% of the cannabis grown in the UK is now home-grown. Cannabis production is one of Britain’s fastest growing industries … An industry worth billions of pounds. Exposure: Britain’s Booming Cannabis Business, ITV 2013
Britain has become a nation of cannabis connoisseurs. ibid.
Police say they are now busting an average of 28 cannabis farms around the country. ibid.
Are there any dope smokers here today? Mr Nice 2010 starring Rhys Ifans & Chloe Sevigny & Jack Huston & Crispin Glover & David Thewlis & Omid Djalili & Elsa Pataky & Andrew Tiernan & Jamie Harris & Christian McKay & Ken Russell et al, director Bernard Rose, opening scene
I didn’t set out to be a dope dealer. It’s not something I’m proud of. ibid.
I had gone straight just as the rest of the country had started to swing. ibid.
Every time I cross the border I get a religious flash and an asexual orgasm. ibid.
I was now being pursued by the IRA, the DEA, Customs & Excise, the police and the press. ibid.
I was about to become Mr Nice. Three days later five hundred kilos of Afghan black – some of the best hashish in the world – was flown from Kabul via Frankfurt and Shannon to New York. It was being smoked in Greenwich Village the next day. I was very rich. ibid.
Cannabis is the UK’s drug of choice. Almost two and a half million of us smoke it every year. I spent my police career locking up criminals, and I always took a very hard line on drugs. But now that the government is allowing doctors to prescribe cannabis, is it time to think again about our current laws. Dispatches: Cannabis: Time to End the Ban? reporter Lord Hogan-Howe, Channel 4 2018
How valuable a source of tax for the treasury they could be. ibid.
Cannabis is the most popular illegal drug in Britain … The cannabis industry is booming … Should we legalise weed? Professor Green: Is it Time to Legalise Weed? BBC 2018
Around 80% of the cannabis sold in Britain is now grown here. ibid.
Taxed properly and put back into communities that need it the most. ibid.
Shouldn’t the priority be to bring it above board in order to minimalise the harmful effects? ibid.