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Cannabis in the Americas

Taken from the 1998/99 Geopolitical Drugs Dispatch report

MEXICO

On January 26, 2000, or about one month before the results of the American certification process were made public in Washington, Mexico's Attorney General, Jorge Madrazo Cuellar, gave a press conference in Mexico City to present the balance-sheet of the antidrug fight carried out between December 1, 1994, when President Zedillo took office, and January 25 2000. During this five-year period, the Mexican authorities seized a little more than 142 metric tons of cocaine; nearly 5,513 tons of marijuana; 1.066 tons of heroin; and 1.713 tons of opium. In addition, they officially eradicated 126,585 hectares of cannabis and 82,519 hectares of poppies. Seizures for 1999 (from December 1998 to November 1999) amounted to 26 tons of cocaine: 1,457 tons of marijuana; 222 kilograms of heroin; and 777 kg of opium. Moreover, 10,775 people were arrested on drug charges in Mexico in 1999 (52,516 during in the five year period). Madrazo did not mention seizures of methamphetamine, but the U.S. State Department announced that 358 kg of this drug was seized and 14 laboratories were destroyed in Mexico in 1999. The 1999 seizures are larger than those made in 1998, but since the Mexican results were particularly poor in 1998, last year's seizures mostly represent a return to the average observed since Zedillo became president....experience shows that in Mexico, as elsewhere, seizures, "historical" or otherwise, have a very limited impact at best on the real level of drug production, trafficking and consumption (which is confirmed by the falling prices and increasing diversification of the drugs available on international consumer markets) and that they do not guarantee that the drug trade will not enjoy high-level protection.

Nor have these seizures avoided a dramatic increase in drug use in Mexico since 1994, a fact that Madrazo "forgot" to mention during his press conference. Far from sharing the optimism of the attorney general, a nation-wide study conducted by the ministry of health concluded that drug use "has shown a preoccupying increase and worrisome trends". Indeed, according to this study reviewed in the weekly magazine Proceso, the mean age of first drug use in Mexico is ten years. In 1993, 3.9% of Mexicans had used a drug at least once in their lifetime, but in 1997 they were 5.27%. Since Mexico has 95 million inhabitants, about half of whom are aged 15 and under, it follows that the domestic market is huge and lucrative. The range of drugs available is diversifying, polydrug use is spreading, and substances that were practically unheard of a few years ago, like synthetic drugs and especially ecstasy, are now imported from Europe and marketed in Mexico, However, cristal, the smokeable methamphetamine manufactured in Mexico, is also gaining adepts on the domestic market.

ARGENTINA

Although voices from various quarters - including Abel Reinoso, the former head of the DEA office in Argentina - maintained that Argentina had become one of the main channels of exports for Colombian cocaine, drug seizures were markedly lower during the first three quarters of 1999 than in the corresponding period in 1998. And in 1998 seizures were 30% lower than in 1997. Thus, from January to September 1999 marijuana seizures fell from more than 10 metric tons to 1 ton; cocaine seizures dropped from 1.74 tons to 38 kilograms; hauls of coca leaves fell from 50 tons to 210 kg; and heroin seizures went from 31 down to 4. But in the last quarter of 1999 law enforcement suddenly obtained dramatic results. A series of police raids such as operations "Eldorado" and "Montecarlo", resulted in the confiscation of 6.6 tons of marijuana, while in the provinces of Salta and Jujuy more than 500 kg of cocaine was hauled. The explanation for this erratic record is probably that in the beginning of the year the government used antidrug forces for tasks related to the preparation of the general election of September 1999, but in order to avoid a disastrous balance sheet at the end of 1999, and therefore a possible reduction of international antidrug aid, it was decided to increase efforts in the last quarter....The borders with Paraguay and Brazil have also become drug hotspots in the last few years. This is due to the expansion of cannabis crops in the Alto Parana and Itapua regions of Paraguay and to the opening of a new cocaine smuggling route that enters Argentina from Paraguay or from the so-called "Triple Border" area where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - HAITI

According to the U.S. State Department approximately 1.5 metric tons of cocaine and 2 tons of marijuana are shipped each month from the Dominican Republic, either directly to the United States or via Puerto Rico, across the Mona Passage. Confiscations in that part of Hispaniola island rose in 1998 to 2.4 tons of cocaine, 67 kilograms of marijuana, 4 of crack and 7 of heroin. A large proportion of these drugs had previously transited through Haiti, the country which occupies the western half of the island.

CANADA

Alongside the international conference on money-laundering held in Montreal in late September 1998, several participants from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) emphasized that about 17 billion Canadian dollars in "dirty money" had gone into the Canadian economy. A good half of that sum came directly from drug trafficking in Canada itself: indeed an official inquiry showed that the illegal drug market was worth $7 to 10 billion a year. Thus, Canada is both a major drug market and a transit zone for drugs bound for the United States. The transit of heroin and cannabis products to the United States has reached such large proportions that in July 1999 U.S. agents informed Toronto journalists that in 2000 Canada could be put on the U.S. list of countries that do not "take adequate steps to fight drug production and trafficking". ...

Cannabis: Domestic Production and Imports

Cannabis products are by far the most popular illicit drugs in Canada - 7.4% of the population aged 15 and above used them in 1997. To cater for this large domestic demand, open-air and, above all, hydroponics cannabis crops have spread across the country from British Columbia to the East (BC Bud) to Ontario and Quebec to the west (Quebec Gold). The authorities estimate that Canada's annual cannabis output reached 800 metric tons in 1998. A significant proportion of this is under the control of biker gangs. For instance, it is estimated that bikers control 80% of hydroponics crops in Quebec. On August 21, 1998, the police seized an aeroponics glasshouse in the Saint Roch district of Quebec City. With this technology, which has been imported from Italy, the roots of the cannabis plant hang in the air and are watered by a sprinkler. Production is thus accelerated by one month, the harvest taking place two months after "sowing". Hydroponics- and aeroponics-grown marijuana can contain up to 20% of THC. Again in Quebec City, the police found in 1997 secret workshops where low-paid workers were packaging marijuana buds and cannabis oil destined for retail sales. But in spite of domestic production, cannabis products continue to be imported from various parts of the world.

Police estimate the amount of Afghan, Pakistani, Lebanese and Moroccan hashish that enters Canada by sea each year at 100 metric tons, mainly through the ports of Vancouver and Montreal. The importers, in addition to the biker gangs, are Italian mafiosi and independent operators, either Canadian or foreign (Dutch, for example). In February 1997, a ship that had been used to bring 50 to 60 tons of Pakistani hashish into Canada was seized. Also in 1997, two major seizures were made in the port of Halifax: 326 were found in a shipment of peppercorns from Madras. In early November 1998, information supplied by Sri Lanka's Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) allowed the drug unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver Island to seize 11 metric tons of hashish of Pakistani origin from a ship, the MV Ansare II, sailing north-west of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia province. Later, Vancouver's drug squad seized 2.8 tons from a yacht, the MV Blue Dawn, which in fact was the floating warehouse. In total, three boats were confiscated and 14 Canadian nationals arrested.

In September 1999, a shipment of two tons of Pakistani hashish was hauled in Toronto from a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt. Jamaica is the main source of marijuana. In 1997, 700 kg of marijuana were seized in the port of Halifax. The marijuana was concealed inside a refrigerated container of foodstuffs from the Caribbean island. In a similar case in Halifax on March 5, 1998, customs found 1,788 kg of marijuana and cannabis oil in containers of foodstuffs slipped from Kingston, Jamaica.