98% of Domestically Eradicated Marijuana is FERAL HEMP DEA Admits!!

98 Percent Of All Domestically Eradicated Marijuana Is "Ditchweed," DEA Admits

September 7, 2006 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: More than 98 percent of all of the marijuana plants seized by law enforcement in the United States is feral hemp not cultivated cannabis, according to newly released data by the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program and the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics.

According to the data, available online here, of the estimated 223 million marijuana plants destroyed by law enforcement in 2005, approximately 219 million were classified as "ditchweed," a term the agency uses to define "wild, scattered marijuana plants [with] no evidence of planting, fertilizing, or tending." Unlike cultivated marijuana, feral hemp contains virtually no detectable levels of THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, and does not contribute to the black market marijuana trade.

Previous DEA reports have indicated that between 98 and 99 percent of all the marijuana plants eradicated by US law enforcement is ditchweed.

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre criticized the DEA program for spending millions of taxpayers' dollars to predominantly eradicate wild hemp. "The irony, of course, is that industrial hemp is grown legally throughout most the Western world as a commercial crop for its fiber content," he said. "Yet the US government is spending taxpayers' money to target and eradicate this same agricultural commodity."

According to a 2005 Congressional Research Service report, "The United States is the only developed nation in which industrial hemp is not an established crop."

St. Pierre said that most of the hemp plants eradicated by law enforcement are remnants of US-government subsidized crops that existed prior to World War II. "Virtually all wild hemp goes unharvested and presents no legitimate threat to public safety," he said. "As such, it should be of no concern to the federal government or law enforcement."

According to DEA figures, Indiana reported seizing over 212 million ditchweed plants - far more than any other state. Missouri law enforcement confiscated some 4.5 million plants, and Kansas reported eradicating approximately 1.2 million plants. More than half of all states failed to report their ditchweed totals.

California led all 50 states in the number of cultivated cannabis plants eradicated in 2005, with the DEA reporting that more than 2 million plants had been destroyed.

The Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program is a joint federal and state effort funded, in part, by the DEA.

STATE LEADERS:
DITCHWEED ERADICATED (2005)
Indiana (212,441,768 plants confiscated)
Missouri (4,529,695 plants confiscated)
Kansas (1,177,976 plants confiscated)
Wisconsin (272,650 plants confiscated)
Oklahoma (100,736 plants confiscated)

STATE LEADERS:
CULTIVATED CANNABIS** ERADICATED (2005)
California (2,011,277 plants confiscated)
Kentucky (510,502 plants confiscated)
Tennessee (440,362 plants confiscated)
Hawaii (255,113 plants eradicated)
Washington (136,165 plants confiscated)

What an absolutely collossal waste of taxpayer dollars!! If I am elected Governor of Alabama there will be no more "Marijuana Eradication Teams" terrorizing gardners in the state of Alabama. I am damn sick of them flying over my home twice a week since June of this year. I'm not growing weed now just as I wasn't growing it in 2002 when plain-clothes meatheads storm-trooped my property carrying large guns, ion-sniffers and driving unmarked vehicles. I am the most well known drug policy reformer in the state of Alabama and one of the most widely recognized drug policy experts in the country as well as an admitted toker....do they really think I would grow weed on my property in the middle of an election...or any other time for that matter?

I am however growing kenaf which looks remarkably like pot. I did it just to piss off the cops and make them waste their resources. Apparently the already do a great job of that if 98% of everything they eradicate is feral hemp. A couple of weeks ago two unmarked vehicles parked at the end of my driveway. One pretended to have car trouble and the other just happened to come along at that minute. I would have been convinced that it was legitimate had I not recognized the officers and understood that there are no battery cables on earth long enough to reach the distance between those two vehicles. I laughed as they scoped out the kenaf looking confused and bewildered. I do wish they would get the forensic results back so they will stop flying over me.