Cannabis Chronicles

In an earlier posting here at the Cannabis Chronicles called Roundup Woes, we detailed a bit of the economic problem agrochemicals giant Monsanto is having with the production of it’s leading herbicide. While further researching Fusarium fungus for our recent series of journal entries called Fusarium Attack, we discovered another significant problem with the [...]

As we mentioned in our last journal entry, as a scientist trained specifically in the field of fungus species like Fusarium, Jeremy Bigwood is uniquely qualified to speak against the ill considered development and use of biological herbicides in the War on Drugs. Here’s an article he penned for In These Times just two [...]

The earlier articles in our series on the use of Fusarium as a bio-herbicide in the drug war focused on the debate as it happened circa 1999-2002. This entry helps to bring the story more up to date, it comes from a website called the Narco News Bulletin which we discovered while researching “Plan [...]

The following take on the escalation of the drug war through the use of biological herbicides comes from CounterPunch, a bi-weekly muckraking newsletter with a radical attitude who advertises that: “Nothing makes us happier than when CounterPunch readers write in to say how useful they’ve found our newsletter in their battles against the war machine, [...]

The Cannabis Chronicles ongoing archive of stories documenting the history of efforts to use Fusarium as a bio-herbicide weapon in the drug war now continues with another entry that originated in the New York Times . . .

Drug War Awaits Attack of Killer Fungus
By JIM ROBBINS

July 18, 2000
Dr. David C. Sands holds out a [...]

As was detailed in the previous entry here at the Cannabis Chronicles, a movement was started in the late 1990’s to use Fusarium fungus as a bio-herbicide to exterminate both Cannabis and Coca. Our archival coverage continues with another article from 1999, this one from a magazine called the New Scientist.

Operation Eradicate
* 11 September [...]

This journal entry begins a series we are calling “Fusarium Attack”, which will detail some of the history behind wrong headed efforts to employ the Fusarium fungus as a bio-control agent in the war on drugs.
The first article in this series that we’ll add to the Cannabis Chronicles archive is from the New York Times [...]

Today is the day that tobacco smoking bans go into effect for coffee houses in the Netherlands, a somewhat controversial move that is actually very much in line with public smoking bans that are common in the E.U. and North America.
Here’s one look at the issue compliments of the Associated Press & BBC News [...]

As a part of our personal archiving project, we add yet another article to the compilation detailing the “Buds of Bekaa”, this time a 2001 piece from Newsweek Magazine . . .
Lebanon: Hash Makes A Comeback
The Bekaa Valley Regains Its Outlaw Reputation
NEWSWEEK
Sep 17, 2001 Issue
Abu Ali is back in business. Wading through a fertile [...]

Returning to our on-going personal project, archiving stories about hashish in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, here’s a piece from the British press that was printed late last year . . .

The dimly lit basement reeks of hashish. Piled high along a wall are dozens of large white sacks filled with the leaves and seeds of the [...]

It’s being reported (at least in some of the alternative media we read) that Roundup herbicide faces some serious hurdles due to the dramatic rise in energy costs. The following comes from a June 2008 edition of a trade magazine for organic farmers . . .
Glyphosate Woes 1
Monsanto developed glyphosate (better known by it’s [...]

With this posting we descend into what might be considered “policy wonk” material. The following analysis of the Bekaa Valley’s role in the geopolitical struggle between Israel and Hezbollah originated from Strategic Forecasting Inc.1

The Bekaa’s Crucial Role in the Israeli-Hezbollah Fight
August 2, 2006 | 0350 GMT
Summary
Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley will play a critical role [...]

We’ve archived a good number of perspectives on the resurgence of the “Buds of Bekaa”, and many of those articles have included quotes and sympathetic coverage of Bekaa’s farmers, but none of the articles have been written completely from the Lebanese perspective.
Thanks to the Internet, it’s possible to provide a unique Lebanese perspective from Ya [...]

Since we’ve been giving a bit of attention to “Cannabis/Hashish in Lebanon” here at the Cannabis Chronicle of late, it seems only natural to put last year’s hash harvest into a bit better perspective. With that in mind, it should be obvious to those who know us that we’d like to share a bit [...]