Lebanese security forces began eradicating cannabis fields in the Bekaa Valley on Monday 23 July 2012, but locals near the village of Boudai, on the outskirts of Baalbek, fought back with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.[1][2] One policeman was wounded and two vehicles damaged, forcing a temporary halt to the destruction of the crop.[1][2]
Growers also blocked roads that morning with burning tires in parts of Baalbek and in Boudai, and police cleared the blockages by midday.[1][2] Armed men attacked the tractors used to destroy the crop; the National News Agency reported 15 tractors attacked in Ain al-Sawda, with drivers saying they had been warned not to take part.[1][2]
The farmers accused the government of taking their main income while neglecting the area’s development, saying crop-substitution efforts had been half-hearted for decades.[1][2] Colonel Adel Mashmoushi, head of the anti-drug agency, called cannabis “a dangerous poison”, warned that drugs would spread through Lebanese society if the crop survived, and vowed the forces would keep destroying cannabis “until the last plant is eradicated”.[1][2]
