cannabisnews.com: High-Grade Manitoba MJ Takes Over U.S. Drug Market





High-Grade Manitoba MJ Takes Over U.S. Drug Market
Posted by FoM on April 01, 2000 at 22:37:14 PT
People Around the U.S. buy Canadian
Source: Canadian Press
Manitoba has displaced Mexico and Colombia as a preferred source of illegal high-grade marijuana in the U.S., a United States Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman says. The province has also earned the reputation among American and Canadian law enforcers as being a net exporter of hydroponic marijuana because Manitoba growers, propelled by a lenient court system, fine-tune their operations to produce some of the most potent pot on the planet. 
"People around (the U.S.) buy Canadian," said Brent Eaton, spokesman for the DEA in Miami. "If somebody's taken a liking to Manitoban, that's what they'll get, if it's available." What's made Manitoba pot so popular, is its high THC content, the active ingredient that produces the high. Most marijuana imported from outdoor plots in Mexico, the Caribbean and South America, contains THC levels around three to seven per cent, said Sgt. Ron Trakalo, a vice officer detective with the Winnipeg Police Service. Today, THC levels in pot plants grown indoors in Manitoba average 15 per cent, sometimes as high as 20 per cent. Trakalo said developments in hydroponic grow operations allow control over every detail, such as humidity, hours of light and nutrients. The high THC level has earned Manitoba hydroponic dope the tag of "wheelchair weed." "Premium marijuana is grown here in Manitoba," Trakalo said. Police have also seen a rise in the number of people selling clones marijuana cuttings to start a new plant. "It's like indoor gardens," Trakalo says. Winnipeg police aren't sure how much marijuana the province is currently exporting. In 1998, RCMP and Winnipeg Police hauled in $30 million in marijuana plants. "Manitoba pot, like B.C. pot, goes for top dollar in the U.S.," said pot activist Marc Emery, who owns Emery Seeds in Vancouver, and is the publisher of Cannabis Culture. Emery said he's sold marijuana seeds to about 1,000 Manitobans. He estimates the number of people growing in Manitoba to be between 8,000 and 10,000, although many would just be growing pot for personal use. Emery said the court system's increased leniency toward marijuana-related charges has also spurred the increase in people willing to grow an illegal product. B.C., for example, has effectively decriminalized use of the drug by not charging people for possession. The courts, busy dealing with cases involving harder drugs such as heroin and cocaine, tend to hand out light sentences for pot-related offences.Winnipeg (CP) Published: April 1, 2000Copyright © 2000 Excite Canada Inc. CannabisCulture Magazinehttp://www.cannabisculture.com/Related Article:Time To Legalize Pothttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread5261.shtmlCannabisNews Articles on Canada & Manitoba:http://www.ussc.alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews+Manitobahttp://www.ussc.alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/search?type=all&query=cannabisnews+canada
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