Frustrated by government attacks on their opium poppy crops, a growing number of farmers in Afghanistan are turning to a lucrative alternative that is just as illegal: cannabis, the source of marijuana and hashish.
World Cannabis Week: held in Denver between 17 and 21 April this year, the event includes such activities as a pro-marijuana rally, a weekend concert featuring the bands Slightly Stoopid and Cypress Hill, and a High Times Cannabis Cup, where judges sample and vote for their favourite marijuana strains and products.
While there may be medical value in some of the individual components of the cannabis plant, the fact remains that smoking marijuana is an inefficient and harmful method for delivering the constituent elements that have or may have medicinal value.