Public Safety

Marijuana Cultivation Grew 35 Percent Last Year

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter

Published March 3, 2010 at 3:00 AM PST

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

A new report by the U.S. State Department says drug cultivation in Mexico hit an all time high last year while drug eradication dropped.

The U.S. state department report says marijauna cultivation in Mexico rose 35 percent last year compared to 2008. The report estimates the crop covered more than 45 square miles.

Opium poppy cultivation more than doubled to about 58 square miles. By means of comparison, that's more than twice the size of Manhattan.

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Meanwhile, the report states marijuana eradication dropped last year. Mexican law enforcement cleared less than half the acreage they did in 2006.

And poppy eradication also fell from historic highs.

One of the Mexican military's traditional roles is uprooting drug plants.

But during the last three years, Mexico's president has reassigned tens of thousands of soldiers to fight drug cartels in city streets.

The report says that shift means fewer plants get pulled. And law enforcement has shifted focus to cracking down on harder drugs like methamphetamine

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Amy Isackson

Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.

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