Marijuana … Much more than just peace
and love…
Ana Maria Londono Arango
Whether it is grown in a
basement in the middle of
a city, in the Andes
mountain forests or in
isolated farms in the
middle of nowhere,
marijuana has a hidden
cost, one that is too often
overlooked by its
supporters and that more
often than not, affects the
most vulnerable and
valuable resources in our
planet, making this a
global problem, even if the
scale seems to be local.
The environmental impact
of this illicit drug is far
worse than most people
believe it to be. In the case
of urban growers, their
consequences are often
related to the large amount
of electricity that they
consume from the grid
thanks to the ever-glowing
artificial lights that allow
them to grow faster than in
normal open-sky
plantations. Add to this the
hundreds of liters of
fertilizers that are being
disposed of in
inappropriate ways and
you have a massive
environmental problem.
In studies undertaken in
Californiai, a state where
marihuana has a partial
legalization for medical
use, it has been estimated
that illegal growers use 70
times the amount of
energy produced by all the
solar panels in the state in
a year: 90 million kilowatt
hours per year which in
return pumps an estimated
40,000 metric tons of
carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere, or almost the
same as 7000 cars would
in yearii.
However, this only
includes those who take
the energy of the grid, but
many others use diesel
generators to power their
“grow lights” around the
clock. These generators
are in most cases low
quality or even home
made, creating high risks
of spills and bush fires. In
a single stream in north
California, it is estimated
that more than 1000
gallons of diesel have been
spilled, and many of the
recent fires that have
sprung in California have
been related to illegal drug
plantations and processing.
The destruction doesn’t
end here; there have been
numerous reports of
killings of native fauna,
such as bears and cougars,
as well as redirection of
water streams for
irrigation and even
clearing of native
vegetation on vast areas
sometimes using illegal
chemicals in the process.
One example of this is the
extensive use of a
chemical called Paraquatiii,
which is illegal to use in
the US due to research that
indicates that it causes
serious damage to lungs
and brain when present in
consumable vegetables or
even airborne. However,
the law in that country
does not prohibit its
manufacturing for exports,
and despite its regulation,
it has been found to be
used in illegal crops across
the US. There isn’t enough
research at the moment
about the side effects that
this chemical might
produce on wildlife and
vegetation; however, it is
easy to imagine that they
will not differ much from
those on humans.
This problem is so
widespread, that even
wildlife sanctuaries like
Yosemite National Park,
have dedicated special
units to find, destroy and
clean this illegal crops,
however these units are
under-equipped and facing
people who protect very
lucrative businesses and
are often armed and
dangerous. This is why
Natural Reserve Parksiv
have become a hotspot for
these illegal crops, not
only across the US but
also in Central and South
America, where resources
destined for wildlife
conservation are fewer and
therefore the advantages of
the illicit growers are
larger.
These figures are certainly
concerning but at least
these are facts that can be
somewhat accurately
estimated thanks to the
constant work of
conservationists working
with the Natural Reserve
Parks everywhere.
However that is not the
case when it comes to the
other two major scenarios
where illegal marijuana
plantations exist.
In the case of the Andesv
and Central America
forests, the toll is
somewhat familiar, just
like the suspects. In these
isolated tropical
environments there is no
need for artificial lighting
and the chances of being
found are fewer, which
allows them to use larger
areas, but sharing the same
ingredients as their
“indoors” cousins:
pesticides, deforestation,
illegal irrigation and bad
management of residues
causing problems for the
environment.
These are fertile grounds
but they are also full of
life. In order to create a
less hostile environment
for their plants the growers
use vast amounts of
pesticides, rendering the
ground toxic for the future.
These chemicals end up in
the soil and in the
marijuana plants
themselves, and when rain
comes, they drip into
nearby rivers and
contaminate all the water
down the stream, in many
occasions not only
damaging the environment
but also endangering
communities that use that
water on a daily basis.
Authorities, consumers,
and the general public
have constantly under_
estimated this problem
thanks to the mainstream
focus on the effects and
consequences of so called
“harder” drugs such as
cocaine and heroine,
however this is all a
misconception. For many
generations Marijuana has
enjoyed the fame of being
the soft drug that does not
harm, and is this exact
attitude that has allowed it
to become one of the
biggest threats to the
environment, and
inevitably to health. It has
been extensively
researched that the effects
of THCvi (the psychoactive
compound of the
marijuana) can cause long
term damage to the brain
and trigger underlying
mental illness pre_
dispositions at a much
younger age, but there are
many other risks related to
the effects of all the
unknown chemicals added
to these plants before they
reach the lungs and brains
of “peace-lovers” all over
the world, and these risks
might actually be far
worse than we can
anticipate. On this issue
we can only assume that
effects will not differ
much from those found on
subjects of other chemical
intoxications where cancer
and deformitiesvii are
common results.
It is important to give
serious consideration to
the severity of this
problem and all affected
parties. It is important to
understand that unlike
most other drugs, this is
one that threatens a large
part of the world.
Marijuana is no longer a
drug of international trade,
it is a domestic issue, for
every country, and it
threatens all the habitats in
all continents.
i Service, S. 2010. Pot: Not so green
after all? Available from:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-
know/environment/pot-not-so-
green-after-all/839/
ii The Journal. 2011. The Climate-
Killers Inside. Available from:
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/n
ews/2010/03/11/climate-killers-
inside/2/
iii
El Universal. 2005. Alco costo
ecologico por cultivo de drogas.
Available from:
http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pl
s/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=133
723&tabla=nacion
iv
Mother Jones. 2009. High Sierras.
Available from:
http://motherjones.com/politics/200
9/07/high-sierras
v
Marquez, Z. 2000. Colombia:
Daños a la biodiversidad por los
cultivos ilicitos y fumigaciones.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Available from:
http://www.biodiversityreporting.or
g/article.sub?docId=135&c=Colom
bia&cRef=Colombia&year=2000
vi
New South Wales Government.
2011. Facsheet: Canabis. Available
from:
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/facts
heets/drugandalcohol/marijuana.ht
ml
vii
Department of Veterans Affair –
United States. 2011. Agent Orange:
Diseases Related to Agent Orange
Exposure. Available from:
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/exp
osures/agentorange/diseases.asp