Why Farmers In Hermel Have More Faith In 'Gold' Than Government At first, it looks like a cornfield. But step a few metres into the corn and the stooks turn into little bright-green trees with spiky leaves, all swaying in the breeze up the narrow mountain valley. When my guide started gesticulating towards another, smaller field, I pleaded with him not to point. There are gunmen aplenty in these hills in the same dark Mercedes they used in the civil war but the man laughed. [continues 832 words]
Rana Rinawi investigates what help is available for Lebanon's young drug addicts Looking at Samir's smiley face and listening to his wise talk, it is hard to believe that he has a history of addiction to drugs and prescription medication. But at the age of 18, Samir (not his real name) has witnessed more unhappiness and abuse than most of his peers. However, things are looking up for the young man. Samir is about to leave a rehabilitation center for drug addicts after a 16-month stay. [continues 1370 words]
Agriculture Minister Ali Abdullah said on Friday that donor countries' failure to support development projects in the Bekaa was responsible for the return of cannabis to the area. Abdullah told reporters in Hermel that illicit plants could not be overlooked but that donor countries must assist the area as much as possible until farmers find profitable alternative crops, adding that donor states must not link their aid to Lebanon's political positions. He urged continued efforts to provide Hermel with services, announcing that a new secondary school would open in the area next week. The Bekaa is returning to drug production on a grand scale since the implementation of eradication programs 10 years ago. Pledges of foreign aid to encourage alternative crop farming in the region have not materialized. [end]
Pot Production Returns To Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, After 10 Years Of Government Eradication And Poverty When Lebanon wiped out the Bekaa valley's $500m-a-year cannabis industry in the 1990s, it was a catastrophe for the impoverished area. Its people are now returning to drug production to survive - and are ready to fight the government to protect their crops. High in the Bekaa valley, relaxing under a fig tree's shade, farmer Ali pours glasses of tea. This year, God willing - and the Lebanese army permitting - his harvest will be good. The spring rains have been generous and now even the gravel at the roadside is flecked with green. Hundreds of wind-blown seeds are germinating among the stones, and those with a second pair of leaves have the distinctive saw-toothed shape of cannabis sativa. "God planted them," Ali says with a grin. But God did not plant what is growing further up the hill. The two lower terraces have potatoes, but the rest - less easily seen from the road - are packed with cannabis plants, still only a few inches tall, but sturdy and growing well. It is on these fields that Ali, his wife, his parents and his six children pin their hopes for the coming year. Elsewhere in the valley, for thousands of other families, it is the same story. The Bekaa - noted also for smuggling and Hizbullah militancy - is returning to drug production on a grand scale. [continues 1598 words]
Imagine the scenario: You're glitzed in your finest nightclub attire, girating next to your friends on table tops to the pulse of techno beats - a regular Friday night at your favorite dance club. Suddenly the lights blare on, the CD scratches to silence and you look up, straight into the barrel of a machine gun. "Everybody relax - this is a drug bust," booms the command from a platoon of policemen straddling the bar-top. Sounds dramatic, but according to club owners, such an occurrence is neither unusual nor threatening. [continues 503 words]
A cannabis-eradication campaign worked. But nothing offered as an alternative has been as lucrative as the drug plant. HERMEL, Lebanon - Eight years after international pressure pushed the Lebanese government to eradicate cannabis farming, the illicit crop has made a strong comeback here in the fertile, sun-drenched Bekaa Valley. Cannabis is the hemp plant from which marijuana and hashish are made. "People are hungry; we need to feed our families. We know drugs are haram [forbidden by God], but isn't starving your children haram too?" asked one mother of six from the town of Hermel. For the first time in eight years, she has planted 12 acres of marijuana. She knows she might go to jail for this, but is willing to take the risk so she can afford to send her children to school again. [continues 606 words]
BAALBEK, Lebanon -- Hussein Jaafar, former drug farmer turned dairyman, struggles to eke out a living from a half-dozen Pennsylvania milking cows while fervently wishing day and night for just one thing. He longs to grow cannabis, the crop from which hashish is made, again. "Let them come and take their cows back wherever they came from," said Jaafar, a thin man whose furrowed brow and receding black hair makes him seem older than his 32 years. "I will even forgive them my down payment. I swear if the government would let me grow just 500 square meters of hashish, I would sell them." [continues 706 words]
When Cannabis Was King: 'Take Back The Cows' BAALBEK, Lebanon Hussein Jaafar, former drug farmer turned dairyman, struggles to eke out a living from a half-dozen Pennsylvania milking cows while fervently wishing day and night for just one thing. He longs to grow cannabis, the crop from which hashish is made, again. "Let them come and take their cows back wherever they came from," said Mr. Jaafar. "I will even forgive them my down payment. I swear if the government would let me grow just 500 square meters of hashish, I would sell them." These are difficult days in the Bekaa region of Lebanon, the season when farmers in the once lawless valley used to seed their fields with cannabis and opium poppies, now banned. Given the deepening economic problems, farmers throughout the region are itching to resurrect their outlaw traditions. [continues 1014 words]
BAALBEK, Lebanon - Hussein Jaafar, former opium poppy farmer turned dairyman, struggles to eke out a living from a half-dozen Pennsylvania milking cows while fervently wishing day and night for just one thing. He longs to grow cannabis, the crop from which hashish is derived, again. "Let them come and take their cows back wherever they came from," said Mr. Jaafar, a thin man whose furrowed brow and receding black hair makes him seem older than his 32 years. "I will even forgive them my down payment. I swear if the government would let me grow just 500 square meters of hashish, I would sell them." [continues 1538 words]
Drug cultivation is back in the Bekaa, according to Baalbek-Hermel MP Hussein Husseini. Husseini, who met President Emile Lahoud Monday for talks on the country's socio-economic problems, said that "in my view, dealing with agricultural issues is no less important than dealing with the economic crisis and public debt." Husseini said that like the government, he opposes planting cannibas in Baalbek-Hermel region, but that illegal crops still exist. "In fact, cannabis cultivation has again spread because the state abandons its responsibility toward this region and its inhabitants," he said. Army helicopters dropped leaflets over the region Friday warning against drug cultivation, but Husseini said the real solution involved implementing a development plan and supporting alternative crops. [end]
The Interior Ministry has warned farmers in the northern Bekaa and Hermel they face stiff penalties if caught cultivating drugs. Leaflets were dropped over the area by an army helicopter stating that whoever grew cannabis would face life sentences with hard labor and fines of up to LL100 million. They also said that mukhtars who concealed any drug cultivation in their villages would face prison sentences and fines of up to LL2 million. Drug cultivation was prohibited in 1992, but Bekaa farmers had threatened to resort to growing cannabis, claiming the government did not provide them with alternative crops. [end]
Capers, Walnuts And Hazelnuts Are Some Of New Cash Crops Displacing Cannabis The United Nations' office in Baalbek for promoting alternative crops may have closed its doors, but efforts to carry on the fight against drug cultivation are continuing with the help of the Internal Security Forces and a local agricultural expert. An office for promoting substitutes to drug cultivation has begun the free distribution of 15,000 imported pistachio saplings from Syria to revive agriculture in Baalbek-Hermel. The office is expecting to receive other types of saplings from different countries every week until next March, amounting to about 500,000 saplings. [continues 492 words]
A delegation of Baalbek-Hermel officials on Friday discussed with former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri the production of fruit and vegetables as an alternative to drug crops. According to the head of the Substitute Cultures Program, Hassan Makhlouf, the project is aimed at producing quality fruit and vegetables such as jojoba, caper buds, nuts and other commercially viable crops. The scheme is designed to encourage the impoverished farmers of Baalbek-Hermel to stop growing drug crops such as poppies and cannabis. [continues 109 words]
Officers from the Customs Department and the Internal Security Forces began a 14-day training program on Tuesday to learn the latest techniques for combating the traffic and abuse of narcotics. The course is sponsored jointly by the United Nations' Drug Control Program and the ISF. Two UN-assigned British officers have been flown in to supervise the workshop, in which 20 Lebanese officers are taking part. The UN Drug Control Program has also granted the ISF four new four-wheel drive vehicles for drug-enforcement-related missions at a price tag of $75,000. [continues 319 words]
Drug abusers should be treated as patients, not criminals, and rehabilitation programs should replace imprisonment, according to experts addressing the need to curtail the illegal use of drugs. Physicians from the region's health ministries and hospitals convened at the Marriott Hotel for a three-day World Health Organization conference exploring the problem of drug use and HIV infection. The conference ended on Saturday with a list of recommendations to be implemented at a country-wide level. "Drug users are humans, too, and have rights," said M.T. Abu Saleh, clinical director for sddiction services at the St. George's Medical School in London. "The Universal Declaration for the Mentally Ill enumerates their human rights. They're entitled to the best healthcare and shouldn't be treated as criminals." [continues 387 words]
BEIRUT - Lebanon has succeeded in curbing cultivation and trafficking of illicit drugs but needs financial aid to support farmers who depended on the trade for decades, a senior U.N. official said on Sunday. "We came up with a positive impression after we visited the Bekaa Valley and met Lebanese leaders. Lebanon has achieved real progress in fighting drugs," Pino Arlacchi, executive director of the U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) told Reuters in an interview. "The problem now is how to boost agricultural development in this area so that farmers will not need to go back to growing cannabis and opium," he said. [continues 419 words]
Thanks for an excellent piece on the drug war (“Why Washington has lost its war on drugs,” The Daily Star, Feb. 22). If you haven’t seen it already, you should take a look at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer There you will find a collection of the major studies of drug policy over the last 100 years, including the largest studies ever conducted by the governments of the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia. You will also find historical documents covering the history of the drug laws from their inception. [continues 693 words]
There you will find a collection of the major studies of drug policy over the last 100 years, including the largest studies ever conducted by the governments of the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia. You will also find historical documents covering the history of the drug laws from their inception. If you are new to the online library, I recommend you start with The Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs, which you will find under Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy. It is probably the best book ever written on the subject. [continues 224 words]
Politicians have spiritual problems. It seems that people like Al Gore, Bill McCollum, and (of course) B.J. Clinton are the ones with the “Spiritual Problem.” Why don’t they leave us and our young people alone? Typical of the politicians of today, they are jumping on the severe-punishment anti-constitution bandwagon to build their careers by claiming this war on our rights (oops, “war on drugs”) is “for the kids.” Wouldn’t want to appear soft on crime, wouldja Al? How about it Bill? Joe Stalin and Adolf Hitler would be proud of your lack of mercy. [continues 289 words]
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 23 (UPI) - A security official says Lebanon has become ``almost clean'' of drug cultivation and has adopted measures to prevent money-laundering despite its bank secrecy laws. Brig. Gen. Abdel Karim Ibrahim, director-general of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, said today that Lebanon had exerted great efforts in recent years to combat drug cultivation and trafficking, which flourished during the 1975-90 civil war. At a news conference at United Nations headquarters in Beirut, Ibrahim said, ``Lebanon, which was a drug producer and exporter, especially hashish and heroin, and an importer of cocaine, has become almost clean.'' [continues 245 words]
Inside Lebanon
