Marijuana Cultivation
 
Annual U.S. Production:..................10 - 25 million pounds
Estimated Harvest Value:.................$20 - 40 billion
1991 Federal Eradication Budget:.........$14 million
Gov. Estimate of Growers:................over 1.2 million
Marijuana byproducts:....................Fiber, Fuel, Pulp, Others
Yeild / Acre Potiential as a Legal Crop:.$100,000
Yeild / Acre for Corn in 1988:...........$229
 
 
  Who Smokes Pot
 
The percent of people who admitted to a government survey in 1988
that they have used marijuana at least once in their lives:
 
Age 12 - 17....17.4%
Age 18 - 25....56.4%
Age 26 - 34....62.1%
Age 35+ .......19.6%
All Ages.......33.2%
 
 
   Arrest
 
1986......361,780
1987......378,709
1988......391,600
 
Between 1986 and 1989 drug offenders accounted for 79% of the increase
in the federal prison population. By 1988 44% of all federal prisioners
were incarcerated fro drug law violations. CLose of 60% of drug offenders
have never spent time in prison before, and 94% of first time offenders
have no history of violence. In 1989 the federal prison system wqas operating
at 56% over its capacity. State prisons are 23% overcrowded. The U. S. 
Sentencing Commission estimates that the federal prison population will
double or triple by the year 2002. THe cost of keeping an inmate in jail
is $40,000 to $50,000 annually.
 
 
Numbers and text in parts from the "Marijuana Digest"
published by Jon Gettman
 
Marijuana Digest is an eight page newsletter and is published four times a
year. A one-year subscription is $25. To subscribe, send check or money
order to: Marijuana Digest
          P.O. Box 17504
          Washington, D.C. 20041
 
The purpose of the Marijuana Digest is to publish information for use in
public debate over marijuana policy. In its first year, Marijuana Digest
has published data about the nation's marijuana crop, drug bills in
Congress, National Drug Strategy, and an update of marijuana health research
during the 1980's.