Weak peso helps one Mexican export

Reuters:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – The strong Canadian dollar has hit the illegal marijuana sector just as it has other industries that export to the United States, one of Canada’s best known legalization advocates said on Thursday.

But western marijuana growers have also benefited from Canada’s strong economy, especially the booming Alberta oil patch, which has increased domestic consumption, according to Marc Emery, a founder of the British Columbia Marijuana Party.

…A study in 2004 estimated the street value of British Columbia’s annual marijuana crop at more than C$7 billion, which would make it one of the western Canadian province’s largest industries.

Simon Fraser University economics professor Stephen Easton, who authored the 2004 report, said there has been no specific study of the impact of currency on drug exports but it should be the same as with legal exports.

… Canadian marijuana is also facing price competition in the United States from Mexican-grown pot, which has benefited from a relatively weak peso, as well as increased domestic production in the Western U.S.

The U.S. anti-drug agency said in its 2007 report that large scale cultivation of marijuana by Mexican criminal groups was expanding beyond California, and into the Pacific Northwest, and that the potency of the pot available was rising.

So, uh… can we expect British Colombian farmworkers to flood into Sinaloa now too?