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believed was produced annually throughout Mexico."29
Regardless of the historical accuracy of DEA's estimates, there is
no dispute today that domestically grown marijuana represents tens of
billions of dollars of economic activity.  "At minimum, this business is
worth $20 billion to $30 billion a year," says John Sutton, chief of
DEA's cannabis investigations branch  (KY)30  The DEA has estimated that
domestic growers have harvested 10 million pounds annually since 1988.
(See Exhibit 8.)  Their data, without corrections, would place the 1992
crop value at $26.8 billion.
13)  Corrected Estimates of Domestic Marijuana Crop
Estimates of the national marijuana crop which are based on DEA
plant seizures must allow and correct for the following variables:
amount of ditchweed, if any, counted as cultivated plants, the number
of males, the yield of a marijuana plant, the price of marijuana, and
the success rate the DEA attained with their seizures.
In 1988 Hawaii spent $174 per square mile in the state eradicating
marijuana, and the Attorney General estimated that they only seized 20%
of the available crop.31  The vast numbers of plants eradicated annually
are impressive until rated by the sizes of each state.  The DEA has
distributed $10 to $13 million to states annually for the last three
years to subsidize eradication programs.  In Hawaii, one of the most
intensive eradication efforts, these federal funds amount to over
$80/sq. mi.  An investment of time and money of the magnitude returns
seizures of about 65 per sq. mi.  In Kentucky and Tennessee, the federal
dollars amount to about $15 per square mile, and the programs seize about
22 plants per square mile. In Missouri, they spent $7 per square mile,
but in 1992 only seized .76 plants per sq. mi.  Most of the federal
funds went to eradicating ditchweed.
Marijuana can be grown anywhere, and generally is.  Eradicating it is an
expensive proposition.  The fact is, the government just hasn't made an
adequate investment in eradication activities.  Consideration of program
seizures on a sq. mi. basis has contributed to this reports estimation
of the success rate of the seizures in each state.  Programs as
intensive as that in Hawaii, California, Kentucky, and Tennessee are
credited with the highest percentage of seizures, 20 to 50%.  While the
success percentage is a subjective criteria, it does reflect
quantitative data from ranking plant seizures by land area.
This reports estimates that the DEA only seized 25% of the
marijuana grown nationwide.  Using a price index from High Times
magazine, the estimates of the number of males,  and the estimated
yield per plant as discussed below, this report estimates the value
of domestic marijuana to be $27.8 billion.  See Exhibit 10.  While
this figure is about the same as produced by taking the DEA data at
face value, it is based on a much different assessment of the DEA's
activities and effect on the marketplace.  Specifically, DEA
overestimates the value of the plants they seize and their own
success rate in eradicating marijuana plants around the country.
14)  Comparable Value
Exhibit 11 details the value of legal agricultural crops, and their
financial yield per acre.  Exhibit 12 details the value of top crops in
individual states.  Marijuana, if legal, would still outgross all of
these crops.  Assume 520 female marijuana plants on one acre with wide
walkways between the plants.  The plants have adequate spacing, and
easy access for care.  At a yield of one pound per plant, and only
$150 per pound, this acre of land has produced $78,000.  If the price
collapses to $15 per pound, the acre has still out grossed other crops
by providing $7,800.  Marijuana is a multi-use plant, providing fiber,
pulp, fuel, and other raw materials in addition to the valuable
flowertops.
Conclusion:
When the price of oil is high, everybody in the business looks to
drill as much as they can.   When the price of marijuana is high,
growers look to grow anywhere they can.  The DEA eradication/
suppression program has become a market force which encourages
proliferation, creativity, and profitability among domestic marijuana
growers.  The DEA responses to the ongoing proliferation of marijuana
cultivation in the United States has been to distort facts and
research to enhance their own power and enforcement capabilities.  In
many respects, it can be argued that the domestic cannabis
eradication/suppression program has become a permit for the DEA to
lie, cheat and steal.  Presumably the reports on this program have
been provided to the U.S. Congress.  The reports deceive the congress
and the public on the significance of the plants they seize,  as well
as their yield, potency, value, and harmfulness.  The DEA has
consistently exaggerated their accomplishments in order to increase
their funding, and exaggerated the threat and danger of marijuana use
and cultivation to justify severe prison terms for many personal use
growers and to justify their ongoing seizure of millions of dollars of
assets belonging to private citizens.
This is an unconscionable program.  The operation of this program
is not conducted in accordance with democratic values, nor is the
program in our national interest.  By its own standards, the program is
counterproductive and an utter failure.
1) DEA 1985, pg 4
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