The Nation : U.S. Marijuana Production Rises 38%

U.S. marijuana growers, thwarting government efforts to destroy their crop, expanded their production by 38% last year and are now virtually tied with Mexican growers as the world’s second-largest producers of the drug behind Colombia, according to government estimates. At the same time, marijuana prices have reached their highest levels ever--as much as $300 an ounce in some instances--in part because of increased cultivation of sinsemilla, a seedless strain of the crop that is far more potent than traditional “commercial grade” marijuana, according to a report by the National Narcotics Intelligence Consumers Committee. The 101-page committee report states also that cocaine prices continued to fall last year and street purity increased amid signs that worldwide production of the drug has reached record levels. Cocaine sold for as low as $11,000 a kilogram in 1988, compared to $30,000 in 1985.