Magic Statistics

The Canadian dollar reached parity with US dollar last week, and Canadian exporters are crying the blues, claiming their sales to the US are suffering as a result.  That includes exporters of illegal substances.

A stronger loonie has cut the profit of selling potent "B.C. Bud" marijuana in U.S. markets at a time when producers in Canada struggle with tighter border security and competition in the United States with pot from other sources.

Top quality Canadian pot is selling for $3,500 a pound in the United States, compared with $2,400 in domestic markets, according to [Marc] Emery, who is also editor of Cannabis Culture magazine and fighting extradition to the United States.

"When you factor in all the risk and transportation, that [higher export price] is not a big deal anymore," said Emery, adding that when the Canadian dollar was weak exporters could double their money selling into the United States. 

Canadian marijuana is also facing increasing competition from Mexican product, which has benefited from a weaker peso.  A strong Canadian economy, leading to higher demand among oil workers, is at least partially offsetting falling sales to the United States, however.

Mr Emery has been fighting extradition for over two years.  When are we going to be rid of this creep?

Previous related posts:

• Marijuana triggers schizophrenic and psychotic episodes
• UK paper apologises for supporting cannabis legalisation
• Smoking pot can lead to miscarriage
• Think marijuana’s not addictive? Think again.

About two weeks ago, fifteen girls aged 4 to 14 were subjected to the inhuman custom of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in a Burkina Faso village.  A 14-year-old has died; seven others are undergoing treatment for infections and haemorrhaging at a hospital in the national capital of Ouagadougou.  Several people have been arrested.

The 80-year-old woman performing the cutting and some of the girls' relatives have been arrested. They face a fine of up to 900,000 CFA francs (US$1,944) and up to three years in jail. Because the cutting resulted in a death, the woman faces a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Public officials who have been waging a social and educational campaign to eradicate FMG/C are shocked and discouraged by the girl’s death, the first death attributable to the practice in two years.

The CNPLE [National Committee for the Fight against Excision] and UNICEF say the recent death must not overshadow progress made in the fight to eradicate the practice in Burkina Faso.

The 2005 CNLPE study showed that the national prevalence of FGM/C had dropped from 77 percent in 2001 to 49.5 percent in 2005.

"We can't view this latest incident in isolation and say that we have failed in the fight [against FGM/C], because other evaluations have shown the practice is decreasing," the CNLPE's [Aïna] Ouédraogo said. "It is a belief rooted in the social system and it will take time to disappear."

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 100 million to 140 million girls and women around the world have undergone FGM/C. Estimates suggest that three million girls - the majority under 15 years of age - are cut every year.

It was reported only last week that seven more cases of FGM/C had occurred in different parts of the country.  A 70-year-old woman was arrested for cutting a baby and a seven-year-old.  Also arrested as an accomplice was the baby’s father, an official responsible for monitoring FGM/C.

Previous related post: Female genital mutilation: “Crime of love”?

Are iPods to Blame for Rising Crime? — headline, New York Times, 27 September