Canada's legalization of marijuana could hurt farmers in poorer countries

The Caribbean Community (Caricom) has set up a marijuana commission which recently published recommendations to decriminalize the drug
CNN (US)
Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Cannabis cultivation in MoroccoFor decades poor farmers in countries like Jamaica and Morocco have risked the wrath of governments to grow cannabis as a cash crop. But as Canada becomes the first country in the G7 leading industrial nations to legalize marijuana, those countries where the crop has traditionally been grown risk losing out on new legal markets worth billions of dollars. And with no international institution to represent them because of the illegality of marijuana in most of the world growers risk being left behind. "It's all about trying to bring some of these small farmers into the opening market," says Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute (TNI). "The big risk is there is a complete corporate capture going on."