Consequences of Prohibition
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Lebanese anti-drug police on missions to destroy marijuana fields in the Bekaa Valley came under attack at least twice on Monday, the first day of annual eradication efforts aimed at the valley's deeply-embedded trade in hashish.
marijuana fields just before they are burned (image via wikimedia.org)
The Lebanon Daily Star reported an early morning shoot-out on the Boudai Plain on the outskirts of the city of Baalbek. Later in the day, NowLebanon.com reported on a second clash near the town of Ollaq. No injuries were reported in either incident.
In the Boudai Plain incident, unknown assailants fired at least five rocket propelled grenades toward police razing the fields. The attackers fled after exchanging gunfire with security forces.
Later in the day, security forces again came under attack as they destroyed a marijuana field in the town of Ollaq. Armed men shot at the eradicators, as well as again launching missiles. The rockets damaged two cars, one belonging to the head of the anti-drug police, Col. Adel Mashmoushi, and one belonging to a Lebanese television network.
"The perpetrators fled the scene in four cars after then 10-minute fire fight," the Lebanese National News Agency reported.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's 2011 World Drug Report, Lebanon is the world's third largest hashish producer, accounting for 6% of global production. Morocco leads with about 19% of global production, followed by Afghanistan with about 10%, and then Lebanon.
After day one of this year's eradication effort, it appears Bekaa Valley hash producers aren't giving up without a fight.
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Comments
a better title would be...
Lebanese growers take pot shots at police.
Good on Lebanon
The police kill growers all the time and the only thing they have to worry about are booby traps.When will the majority in this country who want legal cannabis say NO!You're not taking my crop ever again?Form cooperatives and fight the bastards.Shoot their helicopters out of the sky or blow them up on the ground.This is exactly like alcohol prohibition with the one exception that pot growers don't defend themselves against heavily armed intruders enforcing the worst piece of social engineering in history.Your government has armed an army of thugs that spend billions of dollars destroying what the people have already said loud and clear they want.When a small,vocal minority is running good people to prison based on racist laws that have nothing to do with any of the reasons they claim to be upholding these laws for.It's time for a change.The Mexican Cartels were attacked by their countries army at the behest of the US government.They did what they were forced to do and now the worst of the torture killers are ex cop and ex military.I know it's foolish to go to war with an over funded,heavily armed and supplied group of fanatical killer cops.They do not hesitate to shoot first and ask questions at the funeral.They are despicable and thugs who hide their faces everywhere they go because what they do is so unpopular and they are well aware of it.Cops in Toronto,Canada think it should be illegal to wear a mask in public.When they stop doing it,perhaps the black watch will too.Love that blonde Lebanese.
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