Hashish ya Libnan

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Today hit news is all about Hezbollah & Cocaine. News headlines such as Cocaine Ring May Have Financed Hezbollah, ‘Hezbollah drugs ring’ hit and Police dismantle international gang, are flooding the media stream.

Bekaa Valley HashishPersonally I’m not surprised. Not surprised how the media keeps trying to link any gang of terrorist activity to Arab, Islam and in particular here, Hezbollah, which is not the point.

The fact that Lebanon history with cocaine, heroin, Hashish, cannabis and all these sort of drugs, can’t be denied. Nor we can deny the millionaires enriched by smuggling and drug trafficking and effect of that on politics in Lebanon and Syria.

Less than a month ago, 4 tons of Hashish were seized in east Lebanon. That was not the first time, nor will it be the last. The disturbing thing is the news coming from Bekaa and Baalbek. Many farmers say growing hashish is their only hope of rescuing their family from poverty.

Hashish in LebanonBaalbek, the city of the sun, where ancient Romans engraved images of opium poppies on the walls of their temples. Nowadays, following the recent Syrian troop withdrawal, local farmers are hoping the area can once again return to its former glory as the country’s narcotics nerve center.

Following the Syrian pullout, farmers seem to be bolder and more open to talking about their intentions to grow hashish. They have had enough miseries and frustrations. This is what many Bekaa farmers saying. The issue is one of survival, plain and simple.

In the Bekaa, the question of whether to grow cannabis is one question farmers have been wrestling with, and losing, for a long time. So much so, in fact, that Lebanon has earned a reputation in the international community as a major supplier of the region’s hashish.

In 1998 a campaign to crackdown on the illegal drugs trade started. Security forces were ordered to destroy hashish fields and farmers were encouraged to switch to alternative crops. International donors pledged $300m in aid to help farmers switch to other crops. But they have only delivered a small part of that promise. The sad fact that in the Bekaa, farmers can sell a truckload - approximately 1,500 kilograms - of raw cannabis for $1,500, compared to receiving a $200 fixed price for the same load of wheat from the government. Of course, that is only if they don’t get caught.

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