Lebanese Hashish Farmers Protest and Reminisce about the Heyday of "the Green Gold of Lebanon"

Following are excerpts from a report about the protest of Lebanese hashish farmers, which aired on New TV on May 28, 2006.

Reporter: This is the Beqa' plain. Here the land knows full well who its farmers are, but does not know what crops it yields. The road for distributing the agricultural produce in local and foreign markets is not paved.

This land, which is planted with lettuce, could have been planted with hashish, in which case, the farmers' income would have been in U.S. dollars, not in Lebanese currency. But since the security forces destroyed the hashish fields, the Beqa' plain has not found among the alternative crops anything that can satisfy its fertility.

Farmer: Since 1992, we have had no hashish in the Baalbek-Harmel region.

Reporter: Since 1992...

Farmer: None whatsoever. They tried to plant it three years ago, but the government destroyed it, leaving no trace.

Farmer: A single season of hashish planting would benefit us all. We could use this hashish to send our children to university. The expenses are low. I used to make 20-30 million each season from the hashish. Now I only make one million or two.

[...]

Reporter: The farmers did not conceal their desire to plant drugs again if the state does not supply them with an alternative.

Farmer: In the days of President Kamil Shamun, may he rest in peace, he would come here to hunt. He would pick a hashish plant and say: "This is the green gold of Lebanon." The U.N. asked him to destroy it, and he refused. How come? He told them: "I want an alternative before I destroy it."

Farmer: If they let us, this region will cover the deficit... the deficit of the entire country. They can make medicine from it.