Marijuana farmers in the Bekaa struggling to survive as profits decline

People in the Bekaa explain that growing hashish allows them to have a decent life and to build themselves homes
Al Akhbar (Egypt)
Saturday, September 13, 2014

Farmers in the Bekaa Valley are not ashamed of growing marijuana. It is neither a disgrace nor a mistake, “We grow it to survive” they say candidly. While some may view cannabis as an illness, farmers consider it as a cure for their problem, the same problem spreading all over the Bekaa: poverty and deprivation. The decline of marijuana profits may cause an economic problem in the Bekaa, since many families depend on planting and selling hashish to survive. The main reason behind the low demand is the closure of the Lebanese- Syrian borders along the eastern mountains, which had been used in the past to traffic hashish out of the country, with only a small quantity trafficked through the port and the airport.