The Rural Voice, 2006-09, Page 12Jeffrey
Carter is a
freelance
journalist
based in
Dresden,
Ontario.
In the coming few weeks, one of
Ontario's most lucrative crops will be
harvested. It's estimated to generate
many millions in economic activity.
According to an article published in
the March 15, 2005 edition of The
Vancouver Sun that quotes Simon
Fraser University Professor Stephen
Easton, the wholesale value of the
crop in Canada was estimated at $5.7
billion while the retail value was
nearly $20 billion.
In addition, given the nature of the
crop, one might suspect that a Targe
percentage of that $5.7 billion ends
up in the pockets of growers. As a
Jeffrey Carter
A question of morality
result. it would appear it has a great
deal more potential for profit than
corn, soybeans, or even processing
tomatoes.
Of course, as with any lucrative
crop, there are risks. In this case,
you might get arrested and serve time
in jail.
That's because the crop in question
is marijuana. Outside the small
amount produced for medicinal
purposes, it's illegal to grow
marijuana in Canada. (It is legal to
grow hemp, a fibre and food crop that
doesn't result in a "high" when
smoked.)
The debate concerning the pros and
cons of marijuana has raged for
decades. Author James Michener in
his novel The Drifters, an account of
the 1960s counterculture, explores
these arguments, eventually coming
to the conclusion that marijuana is
not addictive and is far less harmful
than North America's legal
recreational drugs = alcohol and
tobacco.
(AumAR)
The world's largest supplier of grain bins,
portable dryers, Top Dry® dryers, elevators,
aeration and drying fans
and...
a company providing quality in design,
sales, installation and service since 1976.
A GREAT COMBINATION
FOR YOUR GRAIN
STORAGE, DRYING
& HANDLING
SYSTEMS
131 Thames Rd. W.,
Exeter, Ontario NOM 1S3
Tel: (519) 235-1919
Fax: (519) 235-2562
VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.almar.on.ca
8 THE RURAL VOICE
Yet there are still significant
drawbacks to marijuana.
While it's not physiologically
addictive, one can still become
hooked. My personal dependence
was psychological and lasted 15
years. Much energy, time
and money were wasted in pursuing
and using the herb.
Still, the use of marijuana and its
various derivatives has become
ingrained in our society. Anyone who
regularly walks their community,
whether large or small, will have
detected the pungent odour of a joint.
The situation has led to a demand,
one that's largely being filled with a
domestic supply.
Indoor grow operations are meeting
a great deal of that demand but field
operations, typically located between
rows of corn, remain popular in
Ontario. In Chatham -Kent, the local
law enforcement agency issues
regular reports of outdoor seizures.
One discovery of 1,400 plants, for
instance, was reported earlier this
summer. The value was pegged at
$1.4 million.
I learned from Sgt. Keith Myers, of
the Chatham -Kent Police drug unit,
that it's standard practice to assume a
single plant has a "potential" of
$1,000. Naturally, the dollar figure
falls with lower levels of the active
ingredient, if a plant is harvested
before maturity, or if a plant is
wholesaled rather than retailed.
That kind of profit potential, or
even a fraction thereof, must be a
temptation for farmers, who may be
making little money, or who are
losing money, with legal crops. And,
while Sgt. Myers may not have heard
of any regular farmers growing
marijuana, it would seem foolish to
rule out the possibility.
Farmers, of course, run a risk in
growing an illegal crop and it's
wrong to break the law. Yet, there's
no lack of irony that grain and oilseed
farmers, who've invested millions in
legal endeavours, are unable to earn a
fair return in an unfair marketplace.
Where is the morality in that?0