MARIJUANA A CASH CROP!

LOS ANGELES: The annual market value of US marijuana has been
estimated at $35 billion by a new study, making it by far the largest
cash crop in the country, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The study by marijuana legalisation activist Jon Gettman analysed
official seizure figures to come up with the huge estimate.

It said that marijuana production has increased tenfold in the past
quarter century despite an exhaustive anti-drug effort by law
enforcement.

The report released Monday identified California as the epicentre of
the pot cultivation world with a crop worth almost $14 billion - more
than the combined value of the state's vegetables, grapes and hay crops.

"Despite years of effort by law enforcement, they're not getting rid
of it," Gettman said. "Not only is the problem worse in terms of
magnitude of cultivation, but production has spread all around the
country."

Gettman's report cited figures in a 2005 State Department report
estimating US cannabis cultivation at 10,000 metric tonnes, and used
data on the amount of marijuana seized by police to estimate the
likely size and value of the cannabis crop in each state.

Nationwide, the estimated cannabis production of $35.8 billion
exceeded corn ($23 billion), soybeans ($17.6 billion) and hay ($12.2
billion), according to Gettman's findings.