World Wide Weed

Global Trends in Cannabis Cultivation and its Control

Tom Decorte, Tom Decorte, Gary Potter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138256842
• eBook ISBN: 9781134785216
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

For the majority of its history, the cultivation of cannabis did not stand out, at least compared to the cultivation of other illegal plants. Cannabis plantations, like coca bush or opium poppy plantations, were typically large in size, grown by local farmers in a handful of developing (producing) countries, processed and then exported to industrial (consuming) nations. While cocaine and heroin are still produced in a handful of developing countries, cannabis cultivation is increasingly universal. From Europe to the Americas and Oceania, import substitution in cannabis markets has been noticed in almost every developed country around the world, with a notable aversion for discrimination. Geographical, technological, cultural and economic factors help to explain why (indoor and outdoor) domestic cultivation is well established, and why the nature and extent of cultivation varies so dramatically across the western, developed nations. As we start the second decade of the 21st century, the new cannabis industry continues to fascinate both casual and academic observers of the drug scene. Researchers around the world have become increasingly interested in the phenomenon, aiming to describe, and potentially explain, the rapid switch from importation to domestic production in their own countries. In bringing together some of the world's leading experts on cannabis cultivation this book contains sixteen chapters that take an interdisciplinary look at global trends in cannabis cultivation. It will serve as an exemplar for wider discussions of key theories and concepts relating to the spread not just of cannabis cultivation, but also of illegal markets more generally, the actors that operate within these markets and the policies and practices that are employed in response to developments within these markets.

Chapter 1
The Globalization of Cannabis Cultivation1

Gary R. Potter, Martin Bouchard and Tom Decorte

When internationally renowned cannabis activist Marc Emery was arrested in July 2005 by the Drug Enforcement Administration on charges of exporting cannabis seeds to the United States, it marked the end of one of the largest and most successful cannabis seed businesses in the world. Emery’s ambitions were, literally, to “overgrow the government”2: sell as many seeds to as many customers as possible so that cannabis cultivation becomes simply too large and widespread to be eradicated by law enforcement efforts. Emery was probably aware that, independent of his own actions, cannabis cultivation was already spreading around the world, a trend that has accelerated at an impressive pace over the past 25 years. Beginning in the 1980s in some countries and the 1990s in others, gradually smaller quantities of cannabis were being intercepted in many of the major ports and airports of the industrialized world. At the same time, the police and the media in dozens of different countries were reporting the discovery of more and more cannabis plants over more and more cultivation sites – first in outdoor, then in indoor settings. Researchers slowly but surely became interested in the phenomenon, aiming to describe, and potentially explain, the rapid switch from importation to domestic production in their own countries.

As we start the second decade of the 21st century, the new cannabis industry continues to fascinate both casual and meticulous observers of the drug scene. At least two characteristics make this fundamental change in cannabis markets particularly interesting from an empirical point of view. Firstly, the trend is drug specific. For the majority of its history, the cultivation of cannabis did not stand out, at least compared to the cultivation of other illegal plants. Cannabis plantations, like coca bush or opium poppy plantations, were typically large in size, grown by local farmers in a handful of developing (producing) countries, processed and then exported to industrial (consuming) nations. While cocaine and heroin are still produced in a handful of developing countries, cannabis is now cultivated the world over. This brings us to the second point: cannabis cultivation is increasingly universal. From Europe to the Americas and Oceania, import substitution in the cannabis market has been noticed in almost every developed country around the world, with a notable aversion for discrimination.

This book has emerged within the context of this remarkable phenomenon. In it, we have brought together scholars from around the world who are each involved in original research on cannabis cultivation from a variety of angles. The stories told are as captivating as they are important to the field, covering both the macro (e.g. national trends in cultivation and distribution) and the micro (e.g. the methods and motivations of individual cultivators) patterns, the developed and the developing world, and societal responses to growing and the counter-responses of growers. Researchers working in Australia, Belgium, the Caribbean, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States are represented, each locating their studies within their country’s particular social and political context. This geographical spread of research reflects the spread and diversity of cannabis cultivation worldwide, hence the title World Wide Weed. It should be emphasized early on that this book was not meant to be a comparative analysis of the cultivation industry in those countries. Instead, each author was asked to provide an empirical analysis on cannabis cultivation reflecting their own research interests and expertise, the objective being to provide an original contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the field. Before we introduce each of those chapters and how they fit within the broader context of the book, we provide a brief review of what is already known on cannabis cultivation and its modern history.

Cannabis: a plant and a drug

It is worth spending a few moments discussing some of the features of cannabis that make it so special as an illegal drug, and that help us to understand why contemporary patterns of cannabis cultivation are, as mentioned above, unique among drug production. We need to recognize firstly that cannabis is a drug, but we need also recognize that cannabis is a plant.

The term cannabis is used to cover a range of products derived from the cannabis plant and that go by many different names. There are two major forms of cannabis the drug – cannabis resin (commonly known as hash, or hashish) and herbal cannabis (often known as marijuana3) – and a number of less common products such as cannabis oil and pollen. Herbal cannabis consists of dried material from the plant – usually the flowers or buds and leaves of the plant. Cannabis resin is the harvested resinous secretions of the plant. Cannabis oil, pollen and other variations involve more specific parts of the plant, or more complicated processes of harvesting and refining the plant and the psychoactive chemicals found within it (known collectively as cannabinoids). For the purposes of this book we use the term cannabis to cover all forms of the drug (unless otherwise stated), recognizing that the herbal and resinous forms are by far the most common and that it is herbal cannabis that is most strongly associated with new patterns of production related to the globalization of cannabis cultivation.

A key characteristic that distinguishes cannabis from other drugs is that it is derived directly from the plant, with minimal processing required to produce a consumable and effective drug product4. There is a clear distinction between cannabis and the non-plant based drugs such as amphetamine type substances (ATSs) which are wholly manmade. There is also a clear distinction between cannabis and the other common plant-based drugs: cocaine and heroin both involve a degree of processing to convert the parent plant (the coca bush and opium poppy respectively) into the commonly recognized end product. Coca and opium are the natural products of their parent plants, and there are other plant-based (and fungus-based) drugs that are as “natural” as cannabis, but the use of coca, opium and the others is not as wide-spread as cannabis. Cocaine and heroin are the widely used ‘problematic’ substances, the ones that, alongside cannabis and ATSs, are the focus of coordinated international drug control efforts and the annual United Nations World Drug Report. The production of these involves the processing and refining of the raw plant material. Most cannabis products – and all marijuana and hashish – are harvested direct from the plant and are more-or-less immediately ready for human consumption (and distribution through the illicit market)5.

Most experts agree that cannabis probably evolved in central Asia (Booth 2003, Abel 1980), but it now grows wild on every continent except Antarctica and is cultivated in most countries around the world (UNODC 2008). The spread of the plant around the globe is associated with human economic activity stemming from recognition of the various useful properties of the plant: cannabis was probably one of the earliest plants to be domesticated by man (Booth 2003). Throughout history, humanity has recognized many, many uses of the cannabis plant: as an industrial product, a medicine, a foodstuff, and even as an agent in reversing ecological damage (see Herer 2000 for a detailed overview of all of these claimed benefits). Cannabis is also a highly adaptable plant capable of growing in a range of climatic and agronomical conditions: where cannabis has been cultivated by humans it has also established itself as a weed. It is grown as an agricultural product, hemp, across much of the world (with the US being a notable exception); it is cultivated as a drug crop in at least 172 countries and territories around the world (UNODC 2008). It is, of course, this cultivation as a drug crop that is of primary interest to us here.

The demand for cannabis

To gain a full understanding of contemporary cannabis cultivation it is helpful to start with a consideration of the demand for cannabis products. Demand is, after all, the ultimate driver of cultivation. There are at least three important things to say about cannabis demand that are of central importance for understanding cannabis cultivation.

First, cannabis is the most widely and universally used illegal drug in the world. The United Nations estimates that there were between 143 and 190 million users of cannabis around the world in the year 2007, representing between 3.3% and 4.4% of the adult population. Although cannabis use is a truly global phenomenon, reported consumption rates are particularly high in North America, Western Europe and Oceania (UNODC 2009). Considering this level of demand, it is perhaps less of a surprise to discover that cannabis cultivation now occurs at a significant level in so many developed nations. With such demand, there is a clear incentive to those who seek to make money through illegal enterprise. At the same time, with such a large user population, we should not be surprised that so many have tried to figure out ways of providing themselves and their friends with a steady, home-grown quality product while avoiding the traditional illicit market.

Second, cannabis is embedded within a particular culture. While drug use is often related to particular cultural landscapes with different patterns of drug use (like different genres of music, styles of clothing or wider lifestyle choices) being integral to different sub-cultural scenes, cannabis stands out from other illegal drugs in a number of ways. For one thing, cannabis, like alcohol, cuts across a wide range of (sub-)cultures in the contemporary world – a factor illustrated in part by the previous discussion on the prevalence of cannabis use. The roots of the contemporary spread of recreational cannabis use in the developed world are strongly associated with the counter-culture of the 1960s and 1970s, as epitomized by the stereotype of the “hippie” pot-smoker. However, modern patterns of use suggest that cannabis consumption is no longer limited to a particular sub-culture, but is instead widespread and even “normalized” in many industrialized countries (see e.g. Room et al. 2010, Parker et al. 2002, Shiner and Newburn 1997). Here cannabis, like alcohol, is a feature of contemporary culture in general whereas most other illegal drugs are associated with more limited sub-cultural pockets.

However, there are other, more pertinent (in relation to the current discussion) aspects of the cultural significance of cannabis. As well as cannabis being ubiquitous within and as part of broader cultural scenes, it is meaningful to talk specifically of cannabis culture – a (sub-)culture centered on the drug or plant itself. Evidence for this comes from the existence of numerous cannabis clubs, societies, campaign groups and festivals around the world and from the many thousands of books and magazines dedicated to cannabis, not to mention the millions of web pages. This “cannabis culture” is particularly relevant to the emergence and spread of cultivation in developed nations. A sizeable proportion of the on- and off-line literature devoted to cannabis discusses the plant itself – and how to grow it. Most cannabis-themed magazines and internet sites carry adverts for cannabis seeds and cultivation equipment. Numerous websites are specifically devoted to cannabis cultivation, offering tips and advice to amateurs and more experienced growers alike. As well as providing basic information on how to grow cannabis they offer more advanced information on how to achieve desired results in terms of the quality, quantity and potency of cannabis produced. Sites like these often have a monthly “cream of the crop” competition where growers send in photos of their crops to be judged, on aesthetic grounds, by other members of the website community. This idea of judging the efforts of individual growers is found elsewhere in the world of cannabis culture, with the annual “High Times” Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam perhaps the best known of such competitions. Products at the Cannabis Cup are rated for quality of the drug produced as well as aesthetic properties of the plant, with prizes awarded for those responsible for growing the best crops.6 All this further illustrates how cannabis differs from heroin or cocaine, or the opium poppy or coca bush. It would be hard to imagine anything comparable for these “harder” drugs: there is no “Heroin Cup” nor are there books or magazines with titles such as “Heroin Times” or “Cocaine Culture”.

An important point here is that cannabis culture is not just about the use of cannabis as a recreational drug. Aesthetics play an important part in the competitions just mentioned, and growers cite the pleasures inherent in the act of cultivation and the successful production of a good plant rather than just the production of the drug (Decorte 2008, Potter 2010a, 2010b, Weisheit 1991, 1992). The cultural significance of cannabis as a plant is further reaffirmed for many devotees through recognition of the uses of cannabis beyond its recreational drug properties. The well-documented medical and industrial uses of the plant, alongside more contentious claims around the ecological and spiritual benefits of cannabis cultivation, lead many cannabis users to see the plant in an almost ideological light – such reverence for the plant as well as for the drug provide further motivation to many cannabis growers in the industrialized world (Weisheit 1991, 1992, Decorte 2008, Potter 2010a, 2010b). Given the importance of the plant for many users, it is much less of a surprise to realize that many have found it important to extend the culture surrounding the final product to the actual process of growing it.

The third aspect of the demand for cannabis that is relevant to our understanding of cannabis cultivation is that there is a social tolerance surrounding cannabis use, certainly compared to other illegal drugs (and arguably compared to the legal drugs alcohol and, particularly, tobacco). The effects of cannabis are generally seen to be pleasant, even beneficial in some instances (such as for medical use), with less harmful health consequences compared to the majority of other drugs (see e.g. Nutt et al. 2010). Many countries have some degree of official tolerance to cannabis use – various examples of less punitive legal regimes for the drug are evident in many countries in Western Europe (with the Netherlands de facto legalization being the most established example) and an increasing number of states in the US. This tolerance is undoubtedly related to the fact that cannabis is widely used and increasingly normalized (in terms of cultural acceptance if not in terms of levels of use) with relatively few associated problems compared to other (legal and illegal) drugs. Although it varies from place to place such tolerance can make it easier for cultivation to flourish – growers have less to fear when their actions are less likely to be policed either formally (by the state) or informally (by neighbors reporting their activities).

In summary, cannabis cultivation is encouraged through there being high demand for the product, with users being both potential growers and potential customers to other growers. The fact that cannabis is a plant-based drug which, unlike cocaine or heroin, involves no processing of the plant to produce the final drug, and which has many other widely-recognized and clearly beneficial uses probably encourages both use of the drug and tolerance among non-users. This tolerance, especially when reflected in relatively liberal laws (or relatively liberal law enforcement), makes would-be growers all the more likely to grow.

A brief history of cannabis cultivation

Global patterns of cannabis cultivation have followed a fascinating development, from highly concentrated production in certain developing countries to quasi-perfectly decentralized production in almost every country around the world (UNODC 2008). It should be reiterated that here the focus is on the cultivation of cannabis as a drug plant, rather than as an industrial or agricultural crop, although it is impossible to completely separate out these different reasons for cultivating cannabis (see Potter 2010b). We offer here a brief description of – and explanation for – this historical evolution of cannabis cultivation, divided into three broad phases: 1) Historic and traditional production; 2) Cultivation in the developing world for the expanding markets in the developed world, and; 3) Production in the developed world, firstly in outdoor, then (and increasingly) in indoor settings. Taken together, we see a trend that truly fits the term “globalization”.

Historically cannabis has been grown for a variety of reasons; it is only since the middle of the last century that the plant’s drug...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Preface by Peter Reuter
• Acknowledgements
• 1 The Globalization of Cannabis Cultivation
• PART I TRADITIONAL PRODUCER NATIONS
• PART II GROWING IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD
• PART III RESPONSES TO GROWING IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD
• Index