20. Read Article 2 quickly and find answers to the following questions.

1. In which region is cannabis traditionally grown in Morocco?

2. Is cannabis production spreading to new areas?

3. How much of Morocco’s arable land is given over to cannabis?

4. How much cannabis is harvested in Morocco?

5. In what way does cannabis production threaten the environment?

6. How many people depend on cannabis crop?

7. What fact indicates that cannabis production in Morocco will hardly be abandoned?

8. What income do Moroccan farmers get from cannabis cultivation? How does it compare with the profits of drug trafficking in Europe?

Article 2 £7bn Cannabis Crop Strips Morocco of Trees and Soil

Cannabis production is expanding so fast in Morocco that it is causing soil erosion and the destruction of the long established forests, the UN reported yesterday. The illicit cash crop, which supplies most of the resin used by Europeans, is estimated to be worth $12 billion a year to trafficking networks.

As much as a quarter of the agricultural land in the Rif, the mountainous region where the plant is traditionally grown, is given over to cannabis cultivation, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says. Two-thirds of the local population – as many as 800,000 people – depend on the crop. “Through its expansion, cannabis production threatens the environment of the Rif,” says Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UNODC. “It risks corrupting the social and economic structures and compromising any prospects of sustainable development.” The increase was particularly due to the “spectacular expansion of drug consumption” in Europe, he said.

The report reinforces previous alerts about the scale of the Moroccan drug industry. This summer, EU agronomists abandoned a $750,000 programme intended to persuade Moroccan farmers to cultivate avocados rather than cannabis.

The survey, carried out with the cooperation of the Moroccan government, shows 134,000 hectares are given over to growing what is locally known as rif. As much as 47,000 tonnes is harvested. “In the past 20 years cannabis cultivation has spread from the traditional areas in the central Rif, where it has been grown since the 15^th century, to new areas,” the report says.

It often comes “at the expense of forest areas, as well as of better arable and irrigated land, thus contributing to soil erosion and disappearance of legal agriculture.”

As much as 1.5% of Morocco’s arable land is now given over to cannabis. The average family income from it is estimated to be as much as $2,200.

Virtually all the hashish used in Europe comes from Morocco, according to a recent report by the EU monitoring centre on drugs and drug abuse. The price has fallen sharply in the past four years in Britain, possibly as a result of a rapid rise in homegrown marijuana. The gradual softening of laws against cannabis possession does not appear to have had any significant effect so far on demand for Moroccan hashish.

The UNODC report shows that most of the money from illegal drugs sales does not return to the farmers, whose combined income from it is believed to be around $200 million, compared with $10 billion earned in Europe.

“This phenomenon of monoculture is extremely dangerous for the eco-system,” the report concludes, “especially because the farmers are making extensive use of fertilizers and overexploit the soil.

‘Forest areas are destroyed every year to accommodate new cannabis fields, thus accelerating erosion.”

An earlier UNODC report suggested that cannabis is the most widely produced illegal drug in the world. It estimated that 163 million people take it.

(From ‘The Guardian’)

Now read the articles carefully, find the following word combinations in the text and learn their meaning. Make it a particular point to use these word combinations in the further overall discussion of the problem.

Article 1. To cultivate smth, to release figures on smth, a reduction in output of smth, a harvest, to consider smth a priority, to disburse money, a long-term programme, to make smth near-impossible, to be processed into smth.

Article 2. Illicit, a trafficking network, to expand, expansion of smth, (drug) consumption, to reinforce smth, possession (to possess drugs), to have some effect on smth, demand for smth, to contribute to smth.

Discussion

1. Compare the two articles and say what is similar and what is different in the drug plants cultivation problem for Afghanistan and Morocco.

2. Do you think farmers growing poppy and cannabis can find alternative sources of income?

3. European countries are greatly concerned about poppy and cannabis production in Afghanistan and Morocco. Do you think they can interfere with the process and somehow limit it?

4. Which way of dealing with the drug production do you find more effective: reducing the cultivation of drug containing crops or fighting drug trafficking? Why?