ZCZC
BCN-16
LEBANON-ECONOMY-CANNABIS-DRUGS
Lebanon’s hash farmers fear going legal may hit profits
YAMMOUNEH, Lebanon, Aug 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The sun-soaked cannabis fields
are just out of reach of a nearby army checkpoint. Its production is
lucrative in Lebanon, but growers fear legalising its medical use could slash
profits.
The remote territory surrounding the northeastern Lebanese town of
Yammouneh is blanketed in the potent plant, harvested and sold by powerful
families.
“All these red-shingled houses around us have been built with marijuana
money,” says a local grower, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid
legal troubles.
Lebanon bans growing, selling, and consuming cannabis, but the underground
trade developed over decades into a multi-million dollar industry pumping
resin into other countries.
Lawmakers are now considering legalising its medical use, after the
government asked consulting firm McKinsey to study if doing so could help
bolster Lebanon’s faltering economy as part of a broad reform programme.
But growers and distributors fear government regulation would eat away at
their revenue, or see bigger corporate players run them out of business
altogether.
“We don’t have a problem with legalisation, but the primary beneficiary
must be the grower,” says Yammouneh’s deputy mayor Hussein Shreif.
He spoke to AFP during a tour of the town, where many residents are
involved in the trade.
Growers prefer the current “free market” system, Shreif says, because they
can sell to “big traffickers to make 10 times more money”.
“If the state gets involved, the profit won’t be the same.”
MORE/HR/1015
ZCZC
BCN-17
LEBANON-ECONOMY-CANNABIS-DRUGS 2 YAMMOUNEH
– Taking root –
Cannabis production blossomed during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 war, and
authorities struggled to clamp down on the trade after the conflict ended.
Security forces regularly bust attempted drug exports at Beirut airport
and have even gone to the source, destroying thousands of acres of cannabis
fields.
UN-backed programmes have tried to persuade farmers to switch those fields
into vineyards, with little success.
Cannabis cultivators claim that no other crop can survive the arid climate
of Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa.
“If you tossed hashish on a pile of pebbles, it’d take root. You see it on
the roadside and on piles of trash,” says the grower.
In Lebanon, cannabis is typically planted in spring and harvested in
September, then sun-dried for three days, chilled and pressed.
Yammouneh’s farmers say they sell their product to distributors at an
average of $400 (340 euros) per kilo, more if it is of a higher quality.
Distributors then either sell to local consumers for several times that
price, or export it.
In 2016, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranked Lebanon as
the third main source of cannabis resin after Morocco and Afghanistan, which
are both much larger.
Lebanon’s exports go mainly to nearby markets in Syria, Jordan, Egypt,
Cyprus, Turkey, and even arch-foe Israel.
Some of those countries have legalised medical marijuana, which can be
used to relieve chronic pain or anxiety, nausea among cancer patients, or
symptoms of epilepsy.
While cannabis is usually smoked, for medical purposes it can be consumed
in pills or concentrated oils.
A growing number of governments are allowing its prescription, including
countries across South America, Europe, and most US states.
MORE/HR/1017
ZCZC
BCN-18
LEBANON-ECONOMY-CANNABIS-DRUGS 3 LAST YAMMOUNEH
– ‘Let us grow it’ –
The details of potential legalisation in Lebanon remain hazy, but growers
are already setting a few conditions.
“If cannabis production must become legal, it should at least be limited
to areas it’s currently growing in,” says Jamal Shreif, another local
official in Yammouneh.
“If someone buying from us now can grow it himself, then he’ll stop coming
to us.”
Residents of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley are also hoping that a legalisation
bill would come with an “amnesty” for more than 30,000 people wanted on drug-
related charges, says the deputy major, Hussein Shreif.
The charges usually end in jail time, but earlier this month a Lebanese
army raid on a high-profile trafficker’s home in the Bekaa left him and seven
others dead.
It came just days after Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced lawmakers
were preparing to discuss legalising cannabis for medical use to boost the
economy.
Lebanon’s economy has been in a downward spiral for years, with political
divisions paralysing the government.
The outbreak of war in neighbouring Syria in 2011 added to those woes,
keeping tourists away and triggering an influx of refugees that strained
services.
Public debt stands at $80.4 billion, equivalent to 150 percent of GDP, the
third highest worldwide after Japan and Greece.
“If you really want to legalise cannabis, then let us grow it and export
it,” says the deputy mayor.
“Drug traders could close out the public debt in a year.”
Lebanon is also ranked by Transparency International as one of the most
corrupt countries in the world, and cannabis croppers fear that will seep
into their trade if it is regularised.
“They’ve stolen everything in Lebanon — there’s only cannabis left, and
now they want to steal that too,” says Jamal Shreif.
BSS/AFP/HR/1018