World Wide Weed

The cultivation and distribution of plant-based drugs is perceived as one of the great global problems of our age. Whilst opium (heroin) and coca (cocaine) are often seen as the most problematic of the cultivated drugs, cannabis is by far the most widely used. Cannabis has much in common with opium and coca with regard to traditional patterns of production for international markets. All three are commonly grown on a large scale in geographically remote areas, traditionally in the developing world, and often in areas where the state or international law has little effective control (e.g. Colombia for the coca plant; Afghanistan for the opium poppy). All three depend heavily on local labour for the production and processing of the plant/drug, and then link through organised crime (sometimes in the guise of, or linked to, politicised paramilitary or terrorist organisations) for international distribution. All three end up in local drug markets all over the world. However, unlike the other two, cannabis is increasingly produced in those developed countries that would traditionally be seen as consumer (rather than producer) states. In some countries (e.g. the US, Australia) outdoor cultivation has been fairly widespread for some time. In other places (e.g. the Netherlands, Canada) indoor cultivation (under artificial sunlight) is well established. This is important because domestic cannabis production and distribution takes on a number of different forms when it appears in western, developed nations. In bringing together some of the world's leading experts on cannabis production this book contains fifteen chapters that take an interdisciplinary look at global trends in cannabis cultivation. It will serve as an exemplar for wider discussions of key social-scientific theories and concepts relating to global and local markets (both legal and illegal), the actors that operate within these markets, and the policies and practices that are employed in response to developments within these markets.