REPORT TOUTS POT AS TOP U.S. CASH CROP

SACRAMENTO - For years, activists in the marijuana legalization
movement have claimed that cannabis is America's biggest cash crop.
Now they're citing government statistics to prove it.

A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends
that the market value of pot produced in the United States exceeds $35
billion -- far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as
corn and soybeans.

California is responsible for more than one-third of the cannabis
harvest, with an estimated production of $13.8 billion that exceeds
the value of the state's grapes, vegetables and hay combined;
marijuana is the top cash crop in a 12 states, the report states.

The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold
in the past quarter-century despite law enforcement's anti-drug efforts.

Jon Gettman, the report's author, is a consultant and leading
proponent of the push to drop marijuana from the federal list of
hard-core Schedule 1 drugs, such as heroin and LSD. He argues that the
data supports his push to begin treating cannabis like tobacco and
alcohol by legalizing and reaping a tax windfall from it, while
controlling production and distribution.

"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."

While withholding judgment on the study's findings, federal anti-drug
officials criticized Gettman's conclusions.

Tom Riley of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
cited countries that struggle with big crops used to make cocaine and
heroin.

"Coca is Colombia's largest cash crop and opium poppies are
Afghanistan's largest crop, and that has worked out disastrously,"
Riley said.