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Hybrid Marijuana Can Be Cultivated Year-Round and Cannot Be Killed with HerbicidesIt is genetically engineered |
By Stefan Anitei, Science Editor
21st of December 2006, 15:47 GMT
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Mexican soldiers fighting against drug production in Mexico have stumbled with a new hybrid marijuana plant that can be cultivated year-round and cannot be killed with herbicides.
Fields teem with the new plant and soldiers have to pull up plants by the root to destroy them. "The plants' roots survive if they are doused with herbicide," said army Gen. Manuel Garcia. "These plants have been genetically improved," he said. "Before we could cut the plant and destroy it, but this plant will come back to life unless it's taken out by the roots."
The new breed - known as "Colombians" - matures in about two months and can be planted all year round, compared to twice-yearly normal plant harvests. The hybrid first appeared in Mexico two years ago and it has become the plant of choice for drug industry in Michoacan, a remote mountainous state that lends itself to drug production.
The harvests are so rich that traffickers can now produce as much marijuana on a plot the size of a football field as they used to crop in 10 to 12 acres. These smaller fields are harder-to-detect, and some of those discovered had sophisticated irrigation systems with sprinklers, pumps and thousands of yards of tubing. "For each 100 (marijuana plots) that you spot from the air, there are 300 to 500 more that you discover once you get on the ground," Garcia said.
Drug violence has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Mexico in 2006. 7,000 soldiers and federal officers were sent to Michoacan last week. Officials have arrested 45 people, including several leaders of the feuding cartels and seized three yachts, 2.2 pounds of gold, bulletproof vests, military equipment and shirts with federal and municipal police logos.
More than 18,000 people have been searched, along with 8,000 vehicles and numerous foreign and national boats. "We are determined to shut down delinquency and stop crime in Mexico because it is endangering the lives of all Mexicans, of our families," said Mexican president, Vincente Calderon. "In the past week, soldiers and federal police have found 1,795 marijuana fields covering 585 acres in Michoacan," security officials said.
The destroyed fields were evaluated at $626 million in drugs, including opium poppies and marijuana.
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