Pubdate: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 Source: Fairview Observer, The (TN) Copyright: 2006 The Fairview Observer Contact: http://www.fairviewobserver.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2545 Author: Jennifer Brooks, Staff Writer Cited: The report http://www.drugscience.org/bcr/index.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Jon+Gettman eud GROUP CALLS MARIJUANA STATE'S TOP CASH CROP $4.7b Estimate Exceeds Top 3 Legal Crops By Jennifer Brooks, Staff Writer Tennessee's biggest cash crop isn't cotton or soybeans or corn. It's marijuana. State officials have known this for years and responded with an ever-escalating war on the drug -- patrolling the skies, searching remote mountainsides with heat sensors, sending in the National Guard, burning the crops to the ground and casting a wide net to catch the drug as it moves across the state. Using law enforcement's own records of marijuana seizures, a group dedicated to the legalization of marijuana has released a new report, ranking Tennessee number two in the nation in marijuana cultivation. "You have a very big state that's also very rugged," said the report's author, public policy expert Jon Gettman. "The climate lends itself to cultivation, and marijuana thrives in marginal areas like fence lines, mountainous areas, places that don't get a lot of heat and light." Gettman is the former publisher of High Times magazine and past president of NORML, The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He also holds a doctorate in public policy. The study, which ran in the December issue of The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform, looked at the amount of marijuana seized by law enforcement officials in each state and used that figure to estimate the total amount being grown and sold. Gettman's report concluded that marijuana is a $35 billion a year business in the United States. That would make it the most lucrative crop in the nation, worth more than all the corn and wheat crops combined. In Tennessee, he estimates there are 6.7 billion marijuana plants growing either in the fields or indoors. The state produces 2.9 million pounds of the drug, with an estimated value of $4.7 billion. By contrast, the value of the state's top three legal cash crops -- cotton, soybeans and hay -- comes to barely $1 billion combined. Drug enforcement agencies are skeptical about Gettman's dollar figure. It's hard to prove a negative -- the number of marijuana plants out there that haven't been found. But many of Gettman's findings match law enforcement's beliefs, including Tennessee's high ranking among marijuana-producing states. "We are part of a group of seven states that have the highest marijuana production rates," said T.J. Jordan, a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation who heads the Governor's Task Force on Marijuana Eradication. The other members of the so-called Marijuana Seven -- also known as the Mary Seven and M7 -- are Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, Kentucky and West Virginia. Jordan was particularly un-impressed by the economic argument in favor of legalizing marijuana. "We see it as a gateway drug that's easily accessible to children," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake