Drug Intelligence Brief

The Cannabis Situation in the United States - December 1999

Introduction

Marijuana, a Schedule I controlled substance and product of the Cannabis sativa L. plant, remained the most commonly used and readily available illicit drug in the United States in 1998. Hashish and hashish oil, two additional Schedule I controlled substances derived from the cannabis plant, were in limited demand in the United States in 1998. The 1990s witnessed a surge in youth abuse of the drug, specifically among high school students. This trend parallels a growing relaxation in public attitude toward marijuana, which legalization advocates aid. Of particular concern has been the rise in cannabis potency. In addition, the use of marijuana in combination with other substances, including alcohol, crack cocaine, PCP, and methamphetamine, continues to be prevalent and compounds the deleterious effects of the drug.

Teen Abuse Persists: Blunts Remain Popular

Both the cannabis plant and delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant’s primary psychoactive chemical, are controlled substances. Marijuana is made from the flowering tops and leaves of the plant, which are collected, trimmed, dried, and then smoked in a pipe, or as a cigarette called a joint. The flowering tops, also known as colas or buds, are prized because of their higher THC content. Some users hollow out commercial cigars, such as the Phillies Blunt, White Owl, and Dutch Masters brands, and replace the tobacco with marijuana to create blunts. Once limited to East Coast cities, blunts are now widespread throughout the United States. Although joints contain an average of 500 milligrams of marijuana, blunts may contain as much as six times this amount. In 1998, the use of cigars filled with a combination of marijuana and crack cocaine or PCP was reported in several large metropolitan areas; marijuana was smoked in combination with methamphetamine on the West Coast.

Marijuana is the most widely abused of all controlled substances; users are from all ethnic, social, and regional backgrounds. Drug abuse indicators reflect the increased youth abuse of marijuana in the 1990s and parallel a growing relaxation in the public attitude toward marijuana. Data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), for example, indicate a decline in the percentage of citizens who perceive a great risk from regular marijuana usage.

According to the NHSDA, marijuana use among the general public declined in the late 1980s and remained relatively stable over the 1990s as the following table illustrates.

Current (Past Month) Marijuana Use Among the General Population

On the other hand, the NHSDA also indicates that the prevalence of current marijuana use among youth doubled from 1992 to 1995, from 4.0 percent to 8.2 percent. Since 1995, the rate has fluctuated, but was about the same in 1998 as it was in 1995. The 1998 rate was lower than the 1997 rate, but this was not a statistically significant change in marijuana use.

Current (Past Month) Marijuana Use Among Youth Ages 12-17

The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future Study, an annual survey of the nation’s youth, indicates that in 1998 past month use of marijuana among 10th graders dropped significantly. Among 8th and 12th graders, the rates of marijuana use remained stable from between 1997 and 1998. Nevertheless, marijuana use is still widespread among youth, with nearly a quarter (23%) of all 12th graders stating that they had used marijuana in the past month. In addition, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), the number of nationwide marijuana/hashish emergency room visits quadrupled from 16,200 in 1991 to 64,700 in 1997, the most recent year for which DAWN data are available.

Potency Slowly Rising

Marijuana varies significantly in its potency, depending on the source and selection of the plant materials used. The resinous flowering tops, also known as colas or buds, are prized because of their high THC content. The unpollinated flowering tops of the female plant known as sinsemilla, Spanish for “without seed,” are the most potent. Commercial-grade marijuana, a generic term designating common, non-sinsemilla marijuana, includes loose and kilo brick material, as well as fertilized buds containing seeds.

According to University of Mississippi analyses¹, the THC content of commercial-grade marijuana has risen slowly over the years from an average of 3.71 percent in 1985 to an average of 5.57 percent in 1998. These analyses also show a corresponding rise in sinsemilla THC content from 7.28 percent in 1985 to 12.32 percent in 1998. The national averages of THC content for commercial-grade and sinsemilla marijuana are as follows:

Average THC Content of Marijuana

Marijuana prices vary according to quality, availability, quantity purchased, source of origin, and/or proximity to the point of entry into the United States, and have increased significantly during the past decade at the high end of the price range. Commercial-grade (non-sinsemilla) marijuana, which sold for as high as $600 per pound in 1985, sold for as much as $3,200 per pound in 1998. Sinsemilla sold for as high as $2,000 per pound in 1985, compared to $6,000 per pound in 1998.

Foreign Sources: Mexico Ranks First

Mexico is the major foreign source for marijuana consumed in the United States and has been a supplier of marijuana to the United States for several decades. The El Paso Intelligence Center drug seizure statistics reflect significant increases in marijuana seizures along the U.S. Southwest Border, the major transit area. Such seizures increased 56 percent from 1996 to 1998; figures for the first six months of 1999 indicate a continuation of that trend.

U.S. Southwest Border Marijuana Seizures

The principal organizations that transport marijuana across the border are Mexico-based polydrug organizations. These organizations smuggle significant amounts of marijuana as well as Mexican heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine to the United States. Through an extensive organization of associates in the United States—often related through family or regional ties—Mexican organizations control the transportation and distribution of marijuana and other drugs from hub cities along the Southwest Border to drug consumption markets throughout the United States.

Groups operating from Mexico employ a variety of transportation and concealment methods to smuggle marijuana into the United States. Most of the marijuana smuggled into the United States is concealed in vehicles—often in false compartments—or hidden in shipments of legitimate agricultural or industrial products. Marijuana also is smuggled across the border by rail, horse, raft, and backpack. Shipments of 20 kilograms or less are smuggled by pedestrians who enter the United States at border checkpoints and by backpackers who are alone or in groups, called mule trains, which cross the border at more remote locations. Organized crime groups operating from Mexico also conceal marijuana in an array of vehicles, including commercial vehicles, private automobiles, pickup trucks, vans, mobile homes, and horse trailers, driven through border ports of entry. Larger shipments of marijuana ranging up to multithousand kilograms usually are smuggled in tractor-trailers. For example, nearly 2.4 metric tons of marijuana were seized in January 1999 by U.S. Customs Service officials from a produce trailer at the Pharr, Texas, port of entry.

The U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) believes that a bumper crop of Mexican marijuana, grown mostly in the mountainous Pacific Coast states, is being shipped to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The result has been major U.S. Southwest Border seizures, particularly in South Texas. In February 1999, 5 metric tons of marijuana were seized at a South Texas residence, and in March nearly 5,000 kilograms were found at another residence. In addition, USBP agents working along the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas, seized 12,528 kilograms of marijuana in March 1999—five times the amount seized in the previous month. From Falcon Dam to Boca Chica, where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf of Mexico, the USBP from October 1998 to March 1999 seized 100,037 kilograms of marijuana, with an estimated worth of $178 million. This represented a 50-percent increase over the same period a year ago.

The ready availability of marijuana in Southwest Border states has also affected drug distribution in the United States. For example, Jamaican groups, which dominate retail-level marijuana distribution in the Northeast, are purchasing multihundred kilograms quantities of marijuana from Mexican criminal organizations along the Southwest Border and shipping the drugs to the East Coast. Small quantities (5 to 10 kilograms) are shipped via package delivery services, whereas multihundred kilogram amounts are smuggled in vehicles. The marijuana then is given to local Jamaican distribution groups to sell.

Although Mexico is the primary foreign source country for marijuana sold in the United States, significant quantities of marijuana are believed to have been smuggled by sea from Colombia to the United States. In addition to groups operating from Mexico and Colombia, traffickers from Jamaica and The Bahamas also smuggled marijuana to the southeastern United States. Marijuana from these sources was transported to the United States by cargo vessels, pleasure boats, and fishing boats via traditional maritime routes.

Marijuana shipments originating in the Far East, particularly from Thailand and Cambodia, were confined to the West Coast. Seizures of Thai marijuana, commonly referred to as Thai sticks, occur much less frequently than those of Mexican marijuana. These marijuana shipments were financed usually by American traffickers who had been involved in the trafficking of Thai- and Cambodian-source marijuana for several decades.

There was little evidence that the United States was used as a transshipment point for foreign-source marijuana in 1998. Officials in the Detroit area reported rare instances of Mexican marijuana being transported by courier on flights from the Southwest Border; a portion of the drugs was apparently destined for Canada. Incidents such as this one, however, were rare. Rather, the majority of marijuana smuggled into the United States from foreign sources was destined for and distributed within the U.S. drug market. Likewise, virtually all U.S.-cultivated marijuana was consumed by drug users in the United States; only limited quantities of U.S.-cultivated marijuana were shipped to foreign markets, mainly Canada.

Conversely, there is a growing indication of Canada becoming a source country for hydroponically grown marijuana destined for the United States. There are recent Royal Canadian Mounted Police and USBP reports that “B.C. Bud” and “Québec Gold” transit the 4,000-mile U.S. Northern Border. B.C. Bud is particularly popular. The U.S. Customs Service reports that in 1998 it seized 1,176 kilograms of marijuana along the British Columbia–Washington Border, compared to 4.5 kilograms in 1994.

Domestically Grown Marijuana

Indoor cultivation of marijuana provides a controlled environment conducive to the production of high-potency sinsemilla. A healthy indoor-grown sinsemilla plant can produce about a pound of high-THC marijuana. Indoor cultivation permits year-round production and can be accomplished in a variety of settings, ranging from several plants grown in a closet to thousands of plants grown in elaborate, specially constructed greenhouses. Special fertilizers, plant hormones, steroids, and insecticides enhance vegetative growth rates. Indoor cannabis cultivators frequently employ such advanced agronomic practices as cloning, hydroponics, automatic metering of light, water, and fertilizers, as well as provide an atmosphere enriched with carbon dioxide. According to 1998 Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP) statistics, the five leading states for indoor-growing activity were California, Florida, Oregon, Alaska, and Kentucky. Indoor growers in these states cultivated 90 plants on average. Alaska is the only state not previously listed in the 1997 ranking; it has recently emerged as a leading state for indoor marijuana, replacing Washington on the 1997 list. Nationally, drug law enforcement authorities seized 2,616 indoor-grow operations in 1998, a decline from the 1997 number of 2,941 operations.

A review of marijuana eradication data from the DCE/SP for 1998 indicated that 11 percent of the cultivated plants eradicated last year were grown indoors, compared to 89 percent grown outdoors. These figures represent an increase from 1997, in which 6 percent of the cultivated plants eradicated were grown indoors. Major outdoor growing states for 1998 were California, Hawaii, Kentucky, and Tennessee, which accounted for approximately 75 percent of outdoor-cultivated plants. The largest DEA reported eradication event for 1999 was the June seizure of over 51,000 outdoor plants near the Mississippi River in Arkansas.

Hemp Cultivation: Increasing Legislative Initiatives

Hemp is a variety of the Cannabis sativa L. plant grown around the world for fiber, seed, and oil. Both hemp and marijuana have the psychoactive THC ingredient. Canada and some European nations have authorized the cultivation of Cannabis sativa L. having a THC content of 0.3 percent or less.

Recently, legislation to allow the cultivation of hemp passed in North Dakota in 1997, Hawaii in March 1999, and Minnesota in April 1999. Legalization initiatives have been introduced in 10 other states’ legislatures to include Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The principal focus of the initiatives, however, has been on research into the cultivation and economic viability of a hemp industry. The Federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance. The classification includes all parts of the Cannabis sativa L. plant, except for the mature stalk, fiber, oil, or cake made from the seeds. Therefore, under the CSA, anyone wishing to cultivate marijuana for industrial purposes must obtain a registration from the DEA.

Farmers are lobbying to grow hemp in the United States. They state that although hemp earns less money than tobacco, it can be processed locally, creating more work. One problem that these lobbies have encountered is that hemp remains strongly identified with the counterculture: marijuana advocates are pushing hemp products from oils to clothing, which often are sold in shops that sell rolling papers, pipes, and other drug paraphernalia.

¹ The Cannabis Potency Monitoring Project, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and conducted by the Research Insitute of Phamaceutical Sciences at the University of Mississippi, is the indicator program that tracks changes in the delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content (the potency) of cannabis (marijuana, hashish, and hashish oil) seized in the United States. THC, one of the 61 cannabinoids among among more than 400 compounds found in the cannabis plant, is the principal psychoactive component in the plant. Potency is expressed as the percentage of THC per dry weight of plant material.