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Billions of Wild Drug-Free Hemp Plants Eradicated by DEA in Effort to Confiscate Cultivated Marijuana Since 1984
12.26.06|PRNewswire

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) data it has funded the destruction of 4.7 billion non-psychoactive industrial hemp plants also called "ditchweed" since 1984.

This massive annual eradication effort stands in sharp contrast to farmers across the globe that continue to legally produce industrial hemp for export to the United States.

According to data collected by the DEA's Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP) 218.6 million ditchweed plants were eradicated in 2005 versus only 4.2 million marijuana plants nationwide.

This means that 98.1% of all cannabis plants eradicated in 2005 were actually the non-drug variety of cannabis otherwise known as industrial hemp. Although the ditchweed is primarily being eradicated in mid-western states where it was once grown to support WW II efforts with the encouragement of the government, these plants would have little or no psychoactive effect on people who might smoke them because they contain very low levels of THC, the drug component in marijuana.

Furthermore, George Weiblen, a researcher at the University of Minnesota showed that marijuana and industrial hemp have distinct and non- overlapping DNA fingerprints. He published his findings in the March 2006 issue (volume 51, No. 2) of the Journal of Forensic Science.

The massive ditchweed eradication has cost federal and state governments at least $175 million since 1984, the earliest year data is available on ditchweed. DEA spent $11 Million in 2005 on DCE/SP grants to state police alone.

"It's Orwellian that the biggest target of the DEA's Eradication Program is actually not a drug but instead a useful plant for everything from food, clothing and even auto parts and currently must be imported to supply a $270 million industry," says Eric Steenstra, President of Vote Hemp. "While Vote Hemp has urged the DEA to recognize the difference between hemp and marijuana so farmers could grow it here, the federal agency is spending millions of dollars to destroy hundreds of millions of harmless hemp plants."

How the DEA collects their own data on ditchweed, which is sometimes referred to as feral hemp is puzzling because officials at the DEA regularly state there is no difference between hemp and marijuana. Nevertheless, their own statistics clearly differentiate between ditchweed and "cultivated marijuana" plants that are destroyed. Other questions loom over exactly what is happening to all these plants once they are eradicated.

"Much of the ditchweed eradicated is believed to be burned, turning a carbon consuming plant into a contributor of Greenhouse gasses," says Tom Murphy, Vote Hemp National Outreach Coordinator. "For all the effort to find and destroy these harmless wild hemp plants they are coming back year after year. It is likely that the eradication programs help re-seed the locations were "ditchweed" is found. The late summer timing and removal method causes countless ripe seeds to fall to the ground where they will sprout again the following year."

A nationwide leader, Indiana has eradicated, on average, 65 million wild hemp plants per year from 1984 through 2005, compared to the eradication of 114,699 cultivated marijuana plants annually in the same time period. Marijuana eradication requires that state police work overtime during the summer and required nearly 31,000 hours of officer's time in each of 2003 and 2004, for example, and accounted for 8.9% of the criminal related hours for the state police during those years.

Ironically, FlexForm, an Indiana manufacturer whose hemp-content materials are found in an estimated 3 million vehicles in North America today uses approximately 250,000 pounds of hemp fiber per year must import industrial hemp from Canada and Europe. The company says industrial hemp could easily take a greater share of the 4 million pounds of natural fiber it uses yearly, as "hemp fiber possesses physical properties beneficial to our natural fiber based composites." In addition, FlexForm says it would "gladly expand our domestic purchases."

"The potential value of legal industrial hemp in rural economic development should be targeted for investment by the Department of Agriculture," says Dr. Jon Gettman, a researcher in Public Policy and author of a new comprehensive report that highlighted that marijuana valued at $35.8 billion is America's number one cash crop. "The multiple uses of industrial hemp in manufacturing and product innovation worldwide are consistent with current US agricultural policies and a natural fit into many local economies around the nation."

Numerous states are working to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp. Starting in January North Dakota will accept applications from farmers to grow hemp. The race is on to bring the crop back due to increasing evidence hemp foods are becoming very popular. Sales of hemp foods in 2004/2005 grew by 50% over the previous 12-month period. U.S. retail sales of hemp products are estimated to now be $250 to $300 million per year. European farmers now grow more than 40,000 acres and Canadian farmers grew more than 50,000 acres in 2006.