Monday, December 7, 1998 Published at 11:18 GMT

Caribbean pot: Up in

smoke

A military operation is underway to burn hundreds

of marijuana plantations on the Caribbean island of

St Vincent.

But growers angry at the loss of their income have

written to President Bill Clinton to demand

compensation.

Caribbean troops, backed by

American marines, will spend two

weeks destroying the lucrative

drug crop.

The plantations around the

island's Soufriere Hills are said to

yield some of the world's finest

marijuana, and are normally fiercely protected by

armed guards.

Soldiers are worried they

could encounter

booby-traps as they leap

from the helicopters.

There have been similar

operations in nearby

Trinidad, St Kitts, St

Lucia, Dominica and

Antigua.

But none has sparked the

organised protest seen in

St Vincent.

The Marijuana Farmers organisation has even

sent a letter demanding compensation from

President Clinton, who once famously puffed on a

cannabis joint but never inhaled.

"There is a significant portion of our people who

detest your intrusion and demand compensation

for your action," the group wrote.

Its president, Junior Cottle, said the livelihood of

8,000 of the islands' 119,000 inhabitants depended

on marijuana which was a "political stabiliser".

"To take this out of our economy overnight would

bring hardship and endless misery on our people,"

he added.

Farmers warn of unrest

Without their plants, the farmers say

unemployment in St Vincent and the Grenadines

will rise above today's 40%.

That, coupled with US action against the

Caribbean's banana industry, could provoke unrest

on the island chain, they warn.

The US recently challenged a European Union

quota system crucial to the region's banana

industry which employs up to 60% of the

workforce in St Vincent.

Prime Minister Sir James Mitchell has warned that

without a European market for their bananas,

many farmers will turn to growing and smuggling

drugs.

With an estimated 5,000 hectares in production, St

Vincent is the eastern Caribbean's largest

marijuana producer.

Since 1994, police have destroyed more than 8.2

million plants on the island.

Much of St Vincent's marijuana is exported to other

Caribbean islands.

Officials from the American Drug Enforcement

Administration say the profits are often used to buy

cocaine from nearby South America.

During the operation six US Marine Corps

helicopters will ferry more than 120 troops from

the Caribbean Regional Security Service and St

Vincent police force to uproot and burn marijuana

plots.

But many farmers said they planned to harvest

their plants before the helicopters arrive.