ALMOST ALL POT PLANTS SEIZED BY COPS IS DITCHWEED

ALMOST ALL POT PLANTS SEIZED BY COPS IS DITCHWEED - WITH NO USE IN
MARIJUANA TRADE

NORML - 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 Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program and
the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics.

According to the data, 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.

http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t4382005.pdf

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7033