Paraguay: marijuana farmers protest burning of their pot

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AP Asuncion
Last Updated : Sep 03 2015 | 3:42 AM IST
About 100 marijuana farmers in Paraguay are staging a protest against the recent burning of their pot by anti-drug agents.
The farmers demonstrated yesterday in the country's northern state of San Pedro. They say the burning of some 345 acres (140 hectares) of their marijuana threatens their livelihood.
Marijuana is illegal in Paraguay, a poor, landlocked country in the heart of South America.
But farmer Gabriel Dos Santos says that he grows pot at the risk of prison because the government doesn't provide his impoverished community with seeds to produce anything else.
Paraguay's anti-drug chief Luis Rojas says marijuana is illegal and farmers should choose other crops as sources of income. He says pot might be more lucrative, but argues that farmers don't depend on it for their survival.
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First Published: Sep 03 2015 | 3:42 AM IST

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