Marijuana Arrests Decline Nationally For First Time In Four Years, FBI Data Shows
Marijuana arrests in the U.S. declined in 2019 for the first time in four years, a new federal report shows.
While many expected the state-level legalization movement to reduce cannabis arrests as more markets went online, that wasn’t the case in 2016, 2017 or 2018, which each saw slight upticks in marijuana busts year-over-year. But last year there was a notable dip, the data published this week shows.
“At a time when a super-majority of Americans support marijuana legalization, law enforcement continues to harass otherwise law abiding citizens at an alarming rate,” NORML Political Director Justin Strekal told Marijuana Moment. “Now is the time for the public to collectively demand that enough is enough: end prohibition and expunge the criminal records to no longer hold people back from achieving their potential.
A study released by the Cato Institute in 2018 found that “state-level marijuana legalization has significantly undercut marijuana smuggling.”
Nonetheless, this data shows that American law enforcement carried out more arrests for marijuana alone than for murder, rape, robbery, burglary, fraud and embezzlement combined.
Put another way, police across the country made a cannabis bust every 58 seconds on average last year. Of those arrests, 500,394 (92 percent) were for possession alone.
Ecuador eyes hemp grain to replace corn in feed for shrimp
Ecuador is South America’s leader in shrimp production and a big player on the world stage, but corn prices are high and fewer farmers are willing to plant it, preferring instead more profitable commodities like cocoa, according to a March report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service.
The U.S. and other countries see CBD as the biggest moneymaker now. But Ecuador sees industrial hemp as having a better economic benefit in the long run, said Andrés Luque, who’s in charge of cannabis regulation at Ecuador’s Ministry of Agriculture.
“Our long-term vision, as the Ministry of Agriculture, is to develop the industrial hemp industry,” Luque said in an interview.
In 2019, Ecuador became the top shrimp exporter, with 56% of exports going to China, according to to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Ecuador produced 600,000 tons of shrimp in 2019, and the industry was on the rise heading into 2020, until COVID-19 halted production.
https://hempindustrydaily.com/ecuador-eyes-hemp-grain-to-replace-corn-in-feed-for-shrimp/
USDA: Farm economy was bad before pandemic and remains uncertain for 2021
The economist did project rising agricultural exports in 2021 and strong demand. But he cited a University of Missouri forecast that projected U.S. farm income will drop $21.9 billion in 2021 compared to its forecast prior to COVID-19.
American farmers were battered by economic headwinds before the COVID-19 pandemic ripped apart traditional supply chains – and the farm economy could drop even lower in 2021, according to a grim new report from the chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The economist did project rising agricultural exports in 2021 and strong demand. But he cited a University of Missouri forecast that projected U.S. farm income will drop $21.9 billion in 2021 compared to its forecast prior to COVID-19.