Bred in the US and Europe, GM marijuana seeds are sold to Colombian farmers who earn more from GM weed than from coffee.
By Luis Robayo
AFP
CALI, Colombia – Greenhouses lined with genetically modified marijuana sit on a mountainside just an hour ride from Cali, Colombia, where farmers say the enhanced plants are more powerful and profitable.
One greenhouse owner said she can sell the modified marijuana for 100,000 pesos ($54) per kilo (2.2 pounds), which is nearly 10 times more than the price she can get for ordinary marijuana.
Local authorities said the arrival of genetically modified seeds, which are imported from Europe and the United States have allowed “a bigger production and better quality at the same time”.
A police commander in the Cauca region where Cali is located, Carlos Rodriguez, said one of the modified varieties goes by the name, “Creepy”.
Another seed modified in The Netherlands is fetching a good price in the area, said a foreign researcher, who asked to remain anonymous. That version, well-known in Europe as “La Cominera”, is named for the Colombian village where it grows.
“La Cominera’s” higher value is due to its increased concentration of THC, the plant’s principal active ingredient, and the modified plant verges on an 18 percent concentration level, compared to a normal marijuana plant’s two to seven percent, said the researcher.
Despite the fact that marijuana production is illegal in Colombia, farmers say they continue to sell both traditional and modified marijuana because of economic advantages. One resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity said he can sell 11 kilograms of marijuana for 160,000 Colombian pesos ($87).
In the greenhouses outside of Cali, in a secret location accessible only by foot, it is easy to recognize the famous plant with star-shaped leaves, where it grows amid other legal crops.
In the greenhouses outside of Cali, in a secret location accessible only by foot, it is easy to recognize the famous plant with star-shaped leaves, where it grows amid other legal crops.
“I don’t like growing marijuana, but it ended up that way,” one farmer said. “I received a loan to grow coffee, but I was drowning and I had to sell my harvest very cheap. My sister told me it would be better to plant marijuana.”
Marijuana was first introduced to the country in the 1930s and residents of Cali said that for economic reasons, they have never stopped cultivating the plant since.
They added they cannot sustain themselves on coffee and banana crops alone, because prices fluctuate widely and it is difficult to reach markets in time to sell the perishable items before they spoil, due to a poor road network.
The hemp plant was originally legally used in the production of textiles and soccer balls until 1962, when authorities banned the use of marijauana in those products in order to comply with international standards.
According to botanist Luis Miguel Alvarez, a teacher at the University of Caldas in Manizales and the author of several marijuana studies, after marijuana is grown and dried, it can endure long periods without spoiling, which is a strong economic advantage.
Police commander Rodriguez said the crop’s growth poses a problem for local law enforcement, because profits are often used to finance other criminal activity.
“We believe that the sixth front of the FARC guerrilla forces are 90 percent financed by marijuana,” he said. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is Latin America’s largest and longest-fighting insurgency with 47 years of armed struggle and 8,000 fighters.
Marijuana production and sales are growing in Colombia, which was also the world’s biggest producer of cocaine in 2009, according to available statistics, he said.
“This year we have already seized 27 tons (of marijuana by June), compared to 23 tons last year. It is troubling that the resources of armed groups are growing and because of this they can acquire arms and explosives,” Rodriguez said.
Nationwide, authorities say they have seized 41.8 tons of marijuana to date in 2011, compared to a total of 228 tons in 2010.
Food Freedom 
Hmmm, wonder if this is behind Rep Paul and the other rep. trying to legalize marijuana across the states? Also, what is it modified for?? herbicide resistance? or something else?
yeah, that’s my thinking
Pot should be legalized. And when I smoke pot once in a blue moon I don’t want to have to wonder if it’s GMO pumped up with THC. GMO + THC = GREED.
I hate to post this online in public, but pot should be legalized, Its safer than alcohol. I dont smoke it much, I have smoked it 3 times in the last 18 years at special occasions, but if its gonna be GMO I wont bother, and if its THC is ramped up then I suspect it wont be any safer than alcohol and soon they will be handing out SWDs stoned while driving
I don’t think there’s ANY chance these plants are transgenic. They were almost certainly “modified” by traditional breeding techniques. Increasing vigor and specific metabolic products by transgenic means is barely possible even in the multi-multi-million dollar research labs of multinational seed companies. It’s unlikely at best that hobbyists have done better.
I agree Matt, High Times has been talking about this for years.
Doc Blake
What does “Genetically Modified” mean in this instance?
I don’t think we are talking Monsanto here.
These variaties spoken to here sound like the cloned varieties produced by the networks of private growers which has been going on for years.
Being affraid of this type of thing is goofy. More bang for your buck is all this means.
This story sounds more like a police report than a scientific explanation of exactly what is meant as ‘GM’ here.
This is some of the sweetest, stoniest pot on the planet. Growere have always chosen seed from the best and stoniest. Now that cloning has entered the homegown arena, it has merely enhanced such husbandry.
All this shiver-me-timbers crap is nonsense.
ww
Lovely write-up, Sweetie! It raelly was a fabulous evening, and all the more fabulous because you were there! Kxx
Matt is right here. Transgenics would be of no use or reason here. It is merely breeding.
Anyone want to eat a “natural” strawberry? I mean the kind that grows wild out here where I live. Before these berries were bred through, purposeful selection, into the varieties we have today strwberries were these tiney sour things no bigger that the average pea. Not so pleasant on the tastebuds.
ww
The engineered maryjane blossoms will pollinate natural hemp. Eventually, the Monsanto cartel will rule the illicit drug ‘business’. When the farmers realize there is a terminal gene in those seeds, they will become serfs to the combine, just as have India, Iraq, SA, Ireland, and parts of Europe and Mexico. Now, they are about to invade rural America–an unknown land.
What if those plants self mutate like the chimeric corn in the photo of the top of this article? Who would snort or eat such monsters?
awl
I agree with Albert. The point of transgenic marijuana is so that Monsanto, et al. can get another patent on life, and control the pot trade.
I’ve read MSM reports that Monsanto is genetically modifying marijuana, beyond the “See Also” note at the bottom of this piece.
This article is not talking about breeding; it’s talking about GM. Totally different ballgame. You can’t patent breeding.
Also, I doubt the modification is limited to THC potency; I suspect something more nefarious.
Rady, where does it say anything about this pot being ‘transgenic’ in the article, just because the term “GM” is thrown out, does not mean that the author has any idea of what the term actually means, not has any evidence been offered to prove that it is actually transgenic.
ww
first paragraph “genetically modified”
that is not breeding; that’s something only a biotech lab can do.
this is a news report, not a scientific study. but why would you assume the author doesn’t know what he’s talking about? The French are more familiar with GMOs than most Americans, having burned it and destroyed it when it first appeared until the gubmint banned it.
most MSM articles NEVER offer proof, or links to cite their sources. The author does cite a GM scientist who wished to remain anonymous. I’ve done that; it doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m talking about.
AFP = Agence France Press
Here’s a Feb. 2000 article talking about Monsanto Marijuana http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/1322.html
If you don’t believe a blogger, here’s CNN in 2009: http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-18/justice/government.marijuana.garden_1_marijuana-drug-abuse-cameras?_s=PM:CRIME
do you really think Monsatan is spending millions of dollars to make pot better and that that is its only plan for it?
doubt it, lucy. It probably makes you sterile or stupid or shortens your lifespan in some way
Albert, I have seen buds just as sugery as this on the market for 20 years.
There is nothing unusual about the buds in the photo.
Go buy an issue of HIGH TIMES. Learn some facts before you get hysterical about this.
ww
…“La Cominera’s” higher value is due to its increased concentration of THC, the plant’s principal active ingredient, and the modified plant verges on an 18 percent concentration level, compared to a normal marijuana plant’s two to seven percent, said the researcher.”
This is simply par with the best cloned weed on the market–there is nothing here to indicate ‘GM’.
What he is comparing the THC level to here is industrial hemp. There has been more than 60 years of breeding progress for THC strength, even before the best plants began being cloned by ingenius growers. This is not high tech, hydroponics and clippings is all that is involved in this superpot field.
ww
there are none so blind as those who refuse to see
WILLY! You shock me with your refusal to look at the facts!!!
Buy the way, the very best stuff is seedless at any rate. The clones of sinsemilla are what are sold to new growers. They do not start with seeds. The whole point of premo pot is to limit or eliminate seeds.
ww
..”WILLY! You shock me with your refusal to look at the facts!!!”
Well Rady, show me some.
ww
did you even look at the links I cited?
..Interestingly, low-potency pot of the kind produced by Monsanto seeds at the University of Mississippi is exactly the kind of product the Ministry of Health is asking for from contractors. The guidelines ask specifically for “standardized marijuana cigarettes with THC content of between 4% and 6% and weighing [about] 850 mg.”
Does this look like the pot you are reading about in the article, which is 70 to 78 percent in those plants?
ww
Sorry for the gross exageration…”THC, the plant’s principal active ingredient, and the modified plant verges on an 18 percent concentration level, compared to a normal marijuana plant’s two to seven percent, said the researcher.”
ww
Rady,
I don’t doubt that eventually this Monsanto crap is going to get into the system, but it certainly is not what is reported in the article above.
The Demon Scientists of Monsanto will ruin all biots given enough time.
ww
hey, check out this news item:
A Marijuana Conspiracy
February 9, 2011
http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/2011/02/a-marijuana-conspiracy/
Roger Christie and the “Green 14″
In the U.S., nearly four out of ten murders, six out of ten rapes and nine out of ten burglaries go unsolved. Law enforcement refuses to commit the time or resources necessary to solve these violent crimes.
However marijuana cases are different: the government spends billions of tax dollars every year to arrest and imprison Americans for marijuana crimes. A good example of this is a marijuana case in Hawaii that made headlines in 2010. A marijuana case the government claims is so big that the leader – a minister – must be held in federal prison without bail to protect the community.
The government maintains that he is so dangerous the community would be in grave danger were he granted bail.
Killers get bail, so do rapists, but Reverend Christie is too great a threat?
This case made national news when fourteen residents on the Island of Hawaii were indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2010.
Florence Nakakuni, U.S. Attorney for Hawaii, in a highly publicized press conference, told the world the THC ministry was a “huge pot-growing and selling organization that masqueraded as a religious group”.
much more http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/2011/02/a-marijuana-conspiracy/
Paul, Matt and Willy ~
Why on Earth would Monsanto be involved with research on marijuana UNLESS it’s creating transgenic varieties?
It’s a chemical and biotech company.
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most of the strains of cannabis seed is not gm yet in the netherlands
it is mainly hybridized seed which is a natural process of crossbreeding to get the best quality offspring
these guys take great pride in the quality and linage of their plants and the potency is due to breeding (of course none of these guys are affiliated with monsanto or any other huge corporate entity)
“Why on Earth would Monsanto be involved with research on marijuana UNLESS it’s creating transgenic varieties?”~Rady
To control the market with a terminator hemp seed. That may be the only transgene involved–but you’re best the investigative reporter on this blog, get on it kiddo.
I think it’s obvious that if it’s biological Monsanto is going to try to own it.
That company would be my first choice target for a bunker buster right down their smokestacks.
ww
..Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced a bipartisan bill today that would remove the federal prohibition on marijuana. The bill would instead let states legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. 6/25/11
DEA isn’t going to like this any more than the drug cartels, in fact they are connected at the hip.
The Bush Mafia family isn’t going to take kindly to it either.
ww
I doubt that this is GM weed. R&D for genetic modification takes $$$$$ and the cartels don’t want to reduce their profit margin that much and the home growers don’t have the cash. This probably the result of strain breeding hybridization.
Just a Man: What makes you think that the Cartels aren’t getting funded my Monsanto et al.?? I agree with Rady – if it’s being genetically modified, its Monsanto and friends.
most cannabis crops are still non gm seed
this seed that is reported as gm in this case unless bought from bayer or monsanto or syngenta is most likely a strain of good indica mixed with a sativa so it has good size and higher yeild in a shorter time
i know of no dutch seed producers who have any connections to the above mentioned companies (keep in mind that i am often in the netherlands)
the guys in the seed business here in holland are hardly corporate clowns, in fact many of em deeply distrust governments and corporations
nor would i term them drug cartels even though that would be the drug war propaganda label for them
this is not scarface over here it is serious plant breeding
Megan: Sign me up then!
“GM” is getting confused with breeding and cloned hydoponics here.
The GM seed are low yeild THC as has been pointed out–the “KIND” of hydro is the superpot.
Again–this is indeed a stinkypoo problem if this crap seed from Monsanto gets in the environment and begins infecting other crops.
But this is NOT the weed this article is about that is clear–calling it ‘GM’ in this article is clearly wrong.
ww
The normal THC concentration hasn’t been between 2 to 7 percent since the sixties. Plants have been naturally bred to have a higher concentration than that. Mama thai for instance, can reach up to 22%. Natural concentrations are becoming so high that they’re trying to cap it at 15% in amsterdam. I can’t really see much of a point unless you can enable pest resistance and higher growth rates. As for THC content, give a good geneticist some green and he’ll get you higher in the THC zone than that. I’m unimpressed. Why not insert some salvinorin synthesising protein genes in there. Keep trying lads you’ll get there. God bless THC.
Everyone is an expert at growing the most vibrant plant on the planet, without the interference(help) from human ‘experts’. Whatever people, do you really believe mansanto just fell off the cannabis wagon yesterday? A year ago? A decade or 2? Do you likewise believe that you obtained the knowledge of genetic modification and/or that the science existed in some sort of simultanious fashion with the sciences true origins? Consider this; It has been a reletively recent event, alerting people that cannabis has cancer curing properties and the research results continue pouring in which indicate cannabis as very likely being the most medicinal and beneficial plant there is for mankind. Then think about this, despite state law, federal agents aggressively pursue the closure of dispensaries all over the west coast. This… that the government is obviously aware of cannabis and its cancer fighting properties patent# 6630507 and others. And finally, fukashima and the massive radioactive bombardment of the U.S.A., the great debris field now beginning to wash ashore on the west coast. It is said to be highly radioactive, nothing survives below as it drifts along. Think there might be a potential for an uptick in the number of people diagnosed with cancer in the near future? Need I say more? Genetic modification of plants has been in the research and developement stage for a very long time! Cannabis has been of great interest for all of recorded history, way longer than when Christ supposedly walked the earth and on its water…Figure it out, there is no possible way that any of you can make a verifiable claim regarding the history of this plant. I do not make such a claim, I am, however, of open mind and realize that there is very little that I can be certain of. The only thing I can be absolutely certain of, is that I will do my best to keep an open mind at all times and attempt to better understand so I may be of some kind of value one day, should my life lie in the balance of some choice forced upon me…
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Is nothing sacred? As we move into this new age of marijuana legalization, I pray that we write laws that make sense and address the issue of GM cannabis and label it accordingly. Thanks for posting and if you want so really dank ganja recipes check out ganjalicious.com
This is just BS. They’re just talking about high THC percentages coming from hybrid vigor. The “genetic modification” they are refering to is actually nothing more than cross breeding select phenotypes. Monsanto does own a patent on a GM marijuana strain but it’s modified to produce low amounts of THC and yield low so that it can’t be used to fight cancer and other serious illnesses. The idea is, if they’re gonna lose the battle to keep it illegal, they can at least try and keep us from utilizing it’s full benifits. Monsanto’s marijuana produces 4-6% THC as opposed to 18-24% like you get from your average medical strains on the market today.