Canadian pot an expensive but trendy drug of choice in Vietnam
Bet you didn't know Canadian marijuana is a trendy drug of choice in Vietnam. The Associated Press reports that young Vietnamese prefer expensive imported weed like B.C. Bud to the locally grown stuff. It's also reportedly showing up in Japan and Korea.
"The quality and reputation of the Canadian cannabis is such that it could be worth the trouble and cost of importing," Simon Fraser University criminologist Martin Bouchard, an expert in the pot trade, told AP. "The diaspora connections probably make this easier and cheaper than it normally would."
By that he means the ethnic Vietnamese gangs in Canada and the U.S. that have a big part on marijuana cultivation. A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration report from 2000 detailed their now well-known practice in B.C. of setting up grow-ops in rental homes.
Almost every country in the world produces and uses cannabis, according to a recent United Nations report. It estimated east and southeast Asia have between 5.4 million and 24 million cannabis users.
The marijuana industry in Canada is estimated to be worth between $19 billion and $21 billion a year, according to facts compiled by CBC News. The lion's share of pot grown here is smuggled into the U.S., with most of the rest sold domestically. But clearly the gang-controlled industry believes in diversification.
Marijuana was smuggled into Vietnam during the war in the 1960s and early '70s, mainly for American soldiers. Now, while pot may be grown locally, the high quality of indoor, hydroponic-grown marijuana from North America is preferred by those who can afford it, AP reported.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dai...ive-trendy-drug-choice-vietnam-183649795.html
I can't imagine the insanity of fighting a war while stoned on pot, or any other substance.
