Tracing retail cannabis in the United States: Geographic origin and cultivation patterns
Received 13 May 2009; received in revised form 3 August 2009; accepted 7 August 2009. published online 18 September 2009.
Abstract
Background
Although cannabis is the most readily available and widely used illicit drug in the United States, there remains significant uncertainty about the importance of different production regions and trafficking patterns.
Methods
We analysed 628 “retail” cannabis seizures from over 50 municipalities across the United States for hydrogen and carbon isotope ratios to predict their growth locations and environments.
Results
Results are presented for 22 consolidated retail locations across the United States. Evaluation of specimens from within these retail areas suggested that cannabis seizures had region-dependent origins, often from both domestic and foreign sources, and although indoor growth was common in many areas, there was also regional dependence in the proportions cultivated under indoor versus outdoor conditions.
Conclusion
Street-available cannabis exhibits region-specific trafficking patterns, both Mexican- and Canadian-grown cannabis are apparently widely available, and indoor-grown cannabis appears to be cultivated and trafficked in both warm and cool weather localities throughout the United States.
1 Current address: Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory, 560 Arapeen Drive, Suite 150, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, United States. Fax: +1 801 994 9455.
2 Texas AgriLife Research and Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Texas A&M University System, 1618 Garner Field Road, Uvalde, TX 78801, United States. Fax: +1 830 278 1570.
ABSTRACT