Drought Dries Up Mexico's Marijuana Crop Fox News Latino / AP / January 31, 2012 A soldier stands guard among marijuana plants at an illegal plantation found during a military operation on Friday at the Culiacan mountains, northern Mexico, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. The drought in northern Mexico is so bad that it has hurt even illicit drug growers and their normally well-tended crops of marijuana and opium poppies, Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, said Monday. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) (AP2012) Drug growers in Mexico are feeling the heat, but not from enhanced government security. A harsh drought has reduced their crops of marijuana and opium poppies and is forcing cartels to ramp of their production of other, synthetic drugs. One effect of the lack of rains is that drug planting has "declined considerably," said Gen. Pedro Gurrola, commander of army forces in the state of Sinaloa, the cradle of the drug cartel by the same name. Gurrola said army surveillance flights have detected fewer plantations than in previous years. "We can see a lot less than in other years," Gurrola told reporters. "It depends a lot on conditions. As you can see, everything is dry." He said planters were still trying to eke out crops. "They try to adapt. Where there is a stream, a pit, they put pumps and hoses in there and try to produce as much as they can." But an army spokesman, Gen. Ricardo Trevilla, stressed that didn't mean a drop-off in the overall production of drug cartels. Trevilla, who was interviewed separately, said cartels have been increasingly turning to the production of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, because they are easier to produce and are more profitable. He said synthetic drugs can be made faster, need less storage space and are harder to detect. Mexican authorities have been seizing increasing amounts of chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine as well as finding increasingly large and sophisticated meth labs. Authorities seized 675 tons of a key precursor chemical in December alone, an amount that experts say was enough to produce an enormous amount of drugs. Why this sounds like a propaganda article: Recently I posted an article claiming that marijuana production in Mexico was at an all time high because the military has been too busy hunting and fighting cartel members to do their usual crop eradication,,It was released approximately at the harvest time,,late Nov and early Dec,,,now we are hearing this,long after the crop has already been harvested and warning America that chemical drug production is on the rise. Fits too nicely into the drug czars claims that cartels would just ramp up chemical drug production and down plays the amount of marijuana coming across the border. Increasing chemical drug production only decreases profits for those drugs if they cannot increase their customer base.
Huh. That's weird. No mention that AFGHANISTAN has become the leading world producers of cannabis since the U.S. took over 10 years ago. Isn't there a lot of desert there?? As to propaganda angles: could be as telling as a pro-legalization stance as well. If the contention is that the cartels are making big money off pot, they need to erase that perception as well to bolster legalization efforts. You can't exactly lay the foundation for big pharma to take over if it is perceived that they haven't gained control of the black market and those dangers have been eliminated. Hard to sell little old ladies "safe cannabis-derived drugs" when cartels project an image of anything but safety.
The drug warriors may be seeing the handwriting on the wall and fear their funding may be reduced due to the new acceptance of weed. So they have to trot out another demon to fight....Remember the saying," Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear"
amazing we are seeing the effects of drastic climate change everywhere. I agree with the propaganda angle as well.. If they can downplay mexico's production of cannabis and emphasize synthetics, the drug war will seem more justified. But this doesn't change the fact that mexico will produce a massive amount of weed, and have their guerilla growers in the us producing massive amounts as well.
Ironically, Mexico has also adopted the same laws regarding cold medicines as we have in the U.S. and it has done nothing to stop them, just like here. Prohibition= failure.
Good hopefully it will let me sell some Of my stuff for a better price now. Shirt brick weed every where.
Yup. I agree that its a propaganda angle. No surprise either, it just goes to show that they think by changing gears of focus on to the man made drugs that it makes the drug war look good. I don't hate to break it to them but they aren't fooling anyone except themselves.
Good riddance. I avoided Mexi-weed when I first started smoking 15 years ago, now that I'm MMJ approved, I avoid it even more.
Poor mexicans...the less weed means less money for them, which will ultimatley lead to more violence....... -OSUB
Also are you all kidding me? Im all for supporting marijuana for legalization because it is not dangerous except for the smoking part. But ending the prohibition of hard drugs I mean sh...fuck it whats the point.
I said what I meant. They are also the leaders in that production as well, but no, Afghanistan is now the #1 producer of cannabis as well. (According to articles written march 2010.) Afghanistan now world's top marijuana supplier - NY Daily News Number of articles online for it if you Google "Afghanistan marijuana"
Well then,you need to get out more because the Mexican growers are just as capable of and are growing hydro. I f your dealer told you hus weed was grown by NASA on the moon and it was good you would believe him and swear to all your buddies they were smoking moon pot.
The point is you should be free to do what you want with your own body. Alcohol prohibition proves that even with a dangerous drug, over the counter is always better.
We don't suffer because of that... It's weird because all the stuff we grow here except Oaxaca weed usually goes to the states or Canada. All of the weed that's grown in places with drought is controlled by the Zetas who send 90% of it to the US and the other 10% is usually for them. And most the weed we smoke here comes from the US. I mean all of the weed I buy here is sold to my dealers by the people who confiscate the weed in the US-Mexico border that comes from the US. So don't worry guys, we're still smoking
You have to wonder how much of the weed we smoke in the US is weed that has been "confiscated" and then put back on the market. i mean if the ATF sells guns to the cartels and the DEA launders their money it isn't much of a stretch for them to be selling the weed too.