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| Ontario's No. 3 Cash Crop: Pot |
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Posted by FoM on March 25, 2002 at 08:30:17 PT By Patrick Cain, Special To The Star Source: Toronto Star 
Ontario's indoor marijuana industry is the province's third-largest agricultural sector, statistics show. Police — who stress the difficulty of measuring an illicit part of the economy — estimate revenue to Ontario's indoor pot growers at a billion dollars a year. In terms of revenue to farmers, that makes grow-house marijuana larger than Ontario's hog industry ($958 million a year, according to agricultural statistics), and dwarfed only by beef cattle ($1.2 billion a year) and dairy farming ($1.3 billion a year). "When you look at the number of grow houses that are estimated to be out there, you do the math on that and estimate that those houses alone would bring in, with three crops a year, a million dollars a home," explains Waterloo regional police Inspector Matt Torigian. Police assumptions are based on a grow operation producing three crops of 500 plants each a year. "There have to be a thousand houses in Ontario, and we estimate there to be a couple of hundred just in our region alone. If there's a thousand houses, you're looking at a billion dollars," Torigian says. Most of that value is because of the risk pot growers take, not the cost of production, explains Georgia-based business professor Mark Thornton, an expert on narcotics economics. "The vast majority of that billion-dollar figure is due to the illegality," he says. "A ballpark figure might be something like 80 to 90 per cent. With full legalization and no taxation, it would probably be in the $100-million area. Of course, if it was legal, they might not grow any in Ontario." Statistics Canada does not try to estimate the size of illicit parts of the economy, such as narcotics trafficking, a spokesman said. Last year, the federal auditor-general criticized Ottawa for not trying to assess the role marijuana growing plays in the national economy. On the West Coast, marijuana operations are being joined by those specializing in hallucinogenic mushrooms. Mushrooms are just as profitable and a lot harder to detect. "They're not using the same amount of electricity, they're not creating a big smell," explains RCMP Corporal Doug Culver, who works on drug cases on Vancouver Island. "Just like marijuana grow operations, they like to use rental properties." The RCMP broke up four indoor mushroom grow houses on the island last year, he says. "All of a sudden, these four quite large operations popped up, and now they seem to have gone by the wayside again. We know that the demand is still out there — it's very popular at raves, and with the younger kids." Note: Police estimate illegal marijuana growers bring in $1 billion a year. Related Articles & Web Site: FTE's Canadian Links Local Homes Gone To Pot Indoor Pot Farms Spreading Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #5 posted by FoM on March 25, 2002 at 19:17:43 PT |
| Since I can't post pictures in the news articles I put a ( Direct Link) DL:
to the story so people can check out the pictures and Metro archives their articles I believe. The title when I click on the articles says The Secret Garden so I used that one and I put the paper publish date and web site pub date because I wasn't sure which one to use.
Thanks again!
The Secret Garden [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #4 posted by Ethan Russo MD on March 25, 2002 at 19:14:44 PT:
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| Valerie Corral is an angel of mercy. When clinical cannabis is eventually legalized, history will recognize here as a prophetess. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by DdC on March 25, 2002 at 18:20:33 PT |
| Hey FoM This article was in the local newstands and usually doesn't print the story online so I have too. This one is online though. It made the cover story! ¶8) I'll mirror it at the cybrary later... c-ya DdC Cover: Inside Dope Metro Santa Cruz For the Week of March 20-27, 2002 [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by JHarshaw on March 25, 2002 at 11:35:24 PT |
| You know, if they keep raising the price like this we here in Ontario will soon all be millionares! Even those of us who don't grow weed will get rich just from the trickle down effect. Think about it. 500 plants X 3 crops = 1500 plants = $1,000,000.00 Therefore each plant would be worth $6666.66 I'm sure you will agree that either these are some HUGE plants or these cops are paying way too much for their weed. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on March 25, 2002 at 10:52:57 PT |
| First they estimate a billion dollar crop. Then they say they cannot know , really, because it's illegal, so they "assume". we all know the pitfall of assumption. "Police assumptions are based on a grow operation producing three crops of 500 plants each a year. " But...!!! Check it out! A major admission that: **Most of that value is because of the risk pot growers take, not the cost of production, explains Georgia-based business professor Mark Thornton, an expert on narcotics economics.**"The vast majority of that billion-dollar figure is due to the illegality," he says.** He cites almost 90% inflation of value. Enron was built on this sort of false-valuation, but didnt have the federal government and concerned citizens groups working day and night to falsely inflate the values ot thier commodities. He might as well go all the way and agree that prohibition MAKES the difference between a lucrative black market, and no black market at all. Prohibition is corruption, it is anti-american, it is anti-democratic, and it supports the profitability of drug-trafficking. [ Post Comment ] |
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