Cannabis

      What is cannabis?  

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It is the most consumed drug in the world and therefore the subject of the most traffic.

The scientific name of cannabis is Cannabis sativa. It is often referred to as marijuana (herbal cannabis) and hashish (cannabis resin), terms associated with cannabis grown for its illicit use, or as hemp, a term usually associated with cannabis plants grown for their fiber content.

Cannabis is native to the mountainous areas of central and south Asia. The plant has been used by man for over 6,000 years. As described above, its uses, beside that of a stimulant-hallucinogenic drug, are as rope fiber, livestock food supplement, cooking oil, bird seed, paper and even medication.

Cannabis grows over a wide variety of geographic terrains, altitudes and latitudes. It is grown in many countries on all continents. Although it prefers the higher temperatures and longer growing seasons of the equatorial areas of the world, it has been cultivated as far north as 60 degrees latitude.

All cannabis plants contain delta-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive chemical component ; however THC potency varies considerably, from less than 1 % to 20 % and over.

      World-wide cannabis traffic  

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There was a marked increase in world-wide traffic in cannabis during 1999 compared to 1998. This upward trend has been observed every year for a number of years. Cannabis trafficking has been increasing in response to a high and rising demand. The indoor cultivation of cannabis continued to develop during the year, especially in the Netherlands, Canada and the United States. An increasing amount of cannabis from Colombia and Jamaica made its way to Europe during the year. The Central Asian Republics, where vast fields of cannabis cover several hundreds of thousands of hectares, remain for the time being a major source of supply for the illicit Russian market. Southern Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland) is also proving to be a region with a production potential for herbal cannabis far exceeding that of Morocco, and although most of the cannabis grown in this part of the world is intended for local consumption, large shipments are being sent to Europe and North America. Mexico, the biggest cannabis producing country in the Americas, consolidated its position as the primary supplier of herbal cannabis to the United States, and Jamaica continued to supply large quantities of cannabis oil to Canada, either directly or through the United States.

World-wide cannabis seizures effected during the last three years show a consistent upward trend. During 1999, a total of 4,255 tons of cannabis (3,366 tons of herbal cannabis, 887 tons of cannabis resin and 2 tons of cannabis oil) were seized against 3,442 tons in 1998 and 3,382 tons in 1997. We observe that in 1999, there was more than a 20% increase of seizures in comparison to 1998. Large cannabis seizures were made during the year in Mexico, the United States, Western Europe and Southern Africa.