cannabisnews.com: U.N. Brands Cambodia Top World Source of Marijuana U.N. Brands Cambodia Top World Source of Marijuana Posted by FoM on June 07, 2001 at 07:11:06 PT By Reuters Source: New York Times The United Nations has branded Cambodia one of the largest suppliers of marijuana to the world, with business estimated to generate nearly $1 billion a year.The value of the export of marijuana is estimated to be on par with that of Cambodia's top foreign exchange earner, the garment industry, which employs more than 100,000 people, the U.N. International Drug Control Program said in a report. ``With Cambodia as one of the world's largest suppliers of cannabis, and in combination with the destabilizing effects the illicit profits of this trade has on the country, this situation is clearly not acceptable,'' said the report, obtained by Reuters late on Wednesday.``If this phenomenon is not halted, it will have serious economic and social implications.''The report said more than 200 tons of high-grade Cambodian marijuana had been seized abroad since 1996, primarily in Europe but also in the United States, Australia and Africa.Significant quantities of heroin and methamphetamines from the Golden Triangle of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand and chemicals used to produce narcotics are also being shipped through Cambodia, the report said.The UNDCP said Cambodian law enforcement officials were involved in the drug trade.``Military police could play an important role in dealing with drug production and trafficking. Many observers, however, feel that the military forces are presently more a part of the drug trafficking problem than its solution,'' the UNDCP said.Graham Shaw, UNDCP's Cambodia program officer, told Reuters on Thursday that the United Nations had committed $3.5 million to assist Cambodia in its fight against drugs.However, he described Cambodia as a ``weak link'' in regional anti-drug efforts and said that reform would be ``a long and difficult road.''The report, distributed to the government and the country's aid donors last week, is expected to be discussed at a meeting of aid donors in Tokyo from June 11-13.Cambodia is expected to ask for more than $500 million at the annual meeting, but donor pledges are tightly linked to reform in areas such as law enforcement and tackling drugs.Phnom Penh, Cambodia Source: New York Times (NY)Published: June 7, 2001 Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company Contact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/ CannabisNews Articles - Cambodiahttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Cambodia Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #18 posted by Narcoleptic on June 08, 2001 at 20:56:21 PT Is this written by the New York Times or the DEA? Cambodian weed tends to be brown, but it's not all weak. . . some of that stuff will blast you off to another dimension (particularly when it's part of their "special" soup, cake and pizza). Anyway this article shows the unfair pressures brought against third world nations with few means of making a buck other than the black market or (near) slave labor. . . Mexico and the US both produce much more MJ than Cambodia. . . Cambodia just happens to be a third world nation with a corrupt government that isn't in NAFTA and makes an easier target. . . I'm personally glad Cambodia is selling MJ - it's a much more moral way of making money than selling your life to Nike. . . [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by James Markes on June 08, 2001 at 15:21:24 PT This is Hilarious! :) This is truly hilarious. I don't see the United States mentioned anywhere as a marijuana producer, even though it produces far more marijuana than probably every other nation in the world. And Congres wonders why we get kicked out of UN committees... [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by sundog on June 07, 2001 at 20:42:28 PT: good thing i don't have to swallow this... My memories of anything called 'Cambodian' are of low grade brown weeds. generally not worth the money... i don't believe for one second that this small, heavily put upon country has the resources to produce 50 tons of high grade marijuana per year... i have to agree with most of you, i want to know what's really going on in that small, unthreatening corner of the world. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by FoM on June 07, 2001 at 19:50:50 PT Chemicals I would be worried about any imported pot. What has been sprayed on them? Do they still use paraquat? PS: I don't mean from up north. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by Pontifex on June 07, 2001 at 19:46:17 PT: What's in a name? Dealers will call their stash anything to sell it. Why would anyone import cannabis from Cambodia, for god's sake, running it through customs and across the high seas, when they could grow or acquire it locally at a fraction of the price?I have a friend in New York who once bought an eighth of "Chocolate Thai". I mentioned this to my roommate in college. "Mmmmmm, Chocolate Thai," he mused.Chocolate Thai turned out to be dried, pressed grow-room sweepings.So the next time someone sells you some "Cambodian", look beyond the hype. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by lookinside on June 07, 2001 at 19:34:39 PT: agreed... i guess i go back to about that time too...never heard ofcambodian anything...a whole buncha thai, but nocambodian...(u think they call cambodian weed "thai" formarketing purposes?)(ripoff press was my favorite reading materials...) [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by SWAMPIE on June 07, 2001 at 19:22:57 PT SUSPICIOUS AGENDA I was once lucky enough to get a bud of Cambodian,and it was awesome!It was quite red and very much like Thai-stick. Some of the seed companies sell what they callThai,but I haven't tried it.I haven't grown in years.Too much risk!Hopefully that will change soon!I'd be willing to teach others some interesting techniques.But back to the subject at hand,I'd almost be willing to bet that the CIA has something to do with this,for what it's worth,just to influence the ignorant,and uneducated sheep ,and eventually reap whatever things the rich-asses want to steal from the poor!Or maybe they just want to take over a small country first to prove they are "right" about their thoughts on prohibition.You know,Prove to the public on a smaller scale thet they are right.(though they NEVER will be as it is right now!)They will have to pry my doobie from my cold-dead hands to take away my rights! By the way,did anyone read that Lebanon has completely banned all smoking?This ought to be interesting!There goes the hash-market! ONWARD THROUGH THE FOG!!!!! SWAMPIE [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by Rambler on June 07, 2001 at 15:54:55 PT Gimme a break I guess maybe you get Cambodian weed in Europe,or India,buthere in the states,out west,I've smoked weed for decades.I've beenaround so long I turned on The Freak Brothers,and scored their first lid for them. Dealer McDope is my cousin.I have a vague recollection from about 1969 of getting some budsthat were supposedly from Cambodia.The U.N.,is a shady,and complex outfit,infested with questionableinfluences,and suspicious agendas. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by OldMacDonald on June 07, 2001 at 14:53:53 PT: Math The UN will donate 3.5 million, and the crop is worth 1 billion? If the stereotype is correct, then those asian farmers won't have any problem figuring out where their bread and butter is coming from. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on June 07, 2001 at 13:06:17 PT Cambodia I wonder what resources Cambodia has that we want?I haven't heard of any Cambodian Red since the 70s! [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Pontifex on June 07, 2001 at 12:55:36 PT: Pass me some of that fine Cambodian What a weird allegation!The report said more than 200 tons of high-grade Cambodian marijuana had been seized abroad since 1996, primarily in Europe but also in the United States, Australia and Africa.Now, we all know the UNDCP would never lie or puff up its figures. But even the most thickheaded observer has to wonder -- how do authorities abroad recognize Cambodian marijuana?Is it an easily recognized cultivar -- Khmer Rouge Kush, perhaps? Does it come in little baggies printed "Product of Phnom Penh"?And Dan B is right -- $1 billion is no more than a drop in the bucket of the international narcotics trade. This report is the cutting edge of a broader agenda, to be sure.Once again, the Gray Lady exposes herself as nothing more than an elderly whore.Also -- don't you suppose Nixon is kicking himself in his grave? He could have said, "We have to bomb Cambodia -- they're pushing reefer on our children." He would have been so ahead of his time, and god knows we'd probably still have troops in S.E. Asia. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by aocp on June 07, 2001 at 12:52:02 PT Vacation Now you can go where people are oneNow you can go where they get things doneWhat you need, my son......Is a holiday in CambodiaI've bought from places around the 'states and canadia and i've never heard anyone mention anything that came even remotely from Cambodia. I'm certainly not the expert, but this smells stoopid or somethin', y'know? :) [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on June 07, 2001 at 09:01:51 PT: The UNDCP is feeling the heat A couple months ago, something very interesting happened; the Netherlands withdrew their financial support for the UNDCP due to charges of "... mismanagement at the highest level of the UN-agency in Vienna" according to a little known article in the Dutch newspaper Het ParoolA transaltion of the article can be found at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n641/a08.html?42548Now, why would an international agency in such trouble try to pick a fight with a terribly poor, war-wracked nation desperately struggling to overcome decades of bloodshed and a totally demolished infrastructure?Perhaps to divert attention from its' own less-than-stellar record? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Doug on June 07, 2001 at 08:49:02 PT Who Woulda Thought Cambodia? I've never heard of Cambodian grass. I thought the West Coast is where the best stuff grows. When I was in Amsterdam, there was talk of stuff from Humboldt County, which was looked up to, but never Cambodian. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on June 07, 2001 at 08:26:16 PT: Bizarre This story is bizarre. I doubt its veracity. Cambodia has traditionally grown low grade hemp, not high grade "drug" cannabis. I will eat my hat if it truly turns out that Cambodian production for the world market exceeds that of Thailand or Vietnam. I agree that this is most likely a very ham-handed attempt by the world drug police to threaten and intimidate a weak and harassed nation. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by fivepounder on June 07, 2001 at 08:12:11 PT Yeah, right. Weed from Cambodia is real prevalent here in Humboldt, sure. What do they want to do start a drug war in Cambodia now? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Juan Costo on June 07, 2001 at 08:11:22 PT Europe? Europeans smoke Moroccan hashish, not Cambodian grass. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan B on June 07, 2001 at 07:31:29 PT: Cambodia, You Have A Long Way To Go $1 billion? That's all? Is that what the UN is worried about? Look, when just one of the United States (California) has an annual crop of marijuana worth an estimated $5 billion (some estimates are as high as twice that), this so-called "problem" with Cambodia comes into sharper focus. Now for the real issue: what is it about Canbodia that has drawn the ire of the UN (or, rather, the United States branch of the UN, the UNDCP)? Do they have oil? What other commodities might they have that the UN wants to exploit? When we know answers to those questions, we will know why the UN is suddenly picking on this very weak, very unstable nation for a mere $1 billion worth of pot.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: