Lebanese Government urged to buy cannabis crops

The Lebanese Government is being urged to buy the cannabis crops it is trying to stop farmers from growing.

A Hezbollah official said buying the crops was the best way of stopping the poverty stricken farmers from selling them to drug traffickers.

Hashish cultivation returned to Lebanon's Bekaa valley this year after international aid for alternative crop production failed to materialise.

Hassan Musawi told a rally in Baalbek: "If the Government wants to destroy the hashish, then why not buy it and then destroy it afterwards?"

Farmers also claimed that the alternative crops, mostly potatoes and sugar beet, needed intensive irrigation and could not compete with cheap imports from elsewhere in the region.

The Government said it would continue to destroy cannabis plantations but would not be prosecuting farmers, pledging that the region would soon benefit from a development plan.

Many growers have warned they will take up arms against anyone who threatens their marijuana plants.

Musawi told the rally that Hezbollah did not want incite a confrontation between farmers and the state and urged the Government not to use military force in its crackdown.