MARIJUANA BIGGEST U.S. CASH CROP, REPORT SAYS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - 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, soybeans and hay.

The report estimates that marijuana production has increased tenfold
in the past quarter-century despite an anti-drug effort by law enforcement.

Jon Gettman, the report's author, is a public policy 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.

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

Tom Riley, a spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, cited problems in Colombia and Afghanistan, which
have struggled with big crops used to produce cocaine and heroin.

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