Lebanon, Morocco and Afghanistan are only some of the countries that produce high quality kabobs… and hashish. While most of the weed going around the US is either local, Canadian or Mexican, the country’s only federally funded marijuana plantation is run by an Arab-American at the University of Mississippi; he recently did an interview with The New York Times.

Mahmoud El Sohly is of Egyptian descent. He got his BS and his MS degrees from Cairo University before completing his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s been the government’s ganja grower since 1980 when his predecessor became the Drug Czar in the Reagan White House.

Elsohly is the big fish at the top of the chain – he stands alone with a stash of at least a tonne locked up in a massive freezer. A few years ago, he testified in a DEA court against granting a growing license to a Lyle Craker. Like any true businessman, he wants to maintain his monopoly. His 12-acre facility supplies bulk product to some researchers directly, but those who need it rolled and ready go through a middleman with a machine that spits out the magic cigarettes. One time, a particular contract required them to be extra potent – the resin jammed up the machines, so Elsohly and company had to prepare them by hand. He did not comment on his own twisting abilities.

But hopeful Buddha heads will be disappointed with Elsolhy’s stand on smoking. He explains his opposition to the practice in a an older interview. In fact, one of the innovations he is best known for is the suppository version of a joint (sort of) – a delivery method that does away with the side effects of smoking (and the high). He’s a pharmacist by training and a true scientist. Having worked on the project for over 30 years, he is probably one of the world’s leading experts on cannabis.

Still, neither interview makes any mention of the question many are asking themselves: Does Dr. Elsohly ever sample his product? I can’t imagine him never having done so. The New York Times reporter spent over two hous talking to him; surely the subject must have come up… off the record.

Big picture…

In 2005, Mahmoud Elsohly’s contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse was for over a little over two million dollars; that figure has likely gone up over the past few years. But the researchers who receive his product get the lions share of research funding. The US federal government spends close to $20 billion a year in its “war on drugs.” Tens of billions are also taken out of state coffers for the same purpose. So saying that the US spends over $50 billion annually ‘fighting’ drugs would not be an overstatement. In fact, it’s an understatement, especially when one takes into account law enforcement, legal proceedings, corrections and treatment. This is a losing battle, and one that is far more futile than the so-called war on terror. Consiparcy theories regarding the war on drugs aren’t entirely lost on me, but our government is ultimately throwing money away at a time it can’t afford to.

I was talking to a friend the other day who smokes – cigarettes. He told me a pack costs about seven dollars in DC; in Virginia it’s five. In the Middle East a pack of cigarettes can be bought for one or two dollars. The US government makes big money on cigarette taxes. If they legalized drugs (or just cannabis), they would make a lot more. The money soaked up by the war on drugs would be better spent on regulation and improved treatment. Next to nothing is being done in terms of prevention and that needs to change if we have any hope of reducing drug use in our communities. I’m not saying that buying heroin and crack from CVS is necessarily the answer to our problems, but what we’re doing now is definely not working out. We need to find a reasonable alternative between the two extremes.

You can dream about it all you want, but don’t count on seeing Elsohly’s 90+ flavors at your local pharmacy anytime soon. But if you like suppositories, you may eventually find yourself in luck!

[Tarboush tip: Nimr]

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