Rising cannabis cultivation blamed for massive bee losses

TIRANA, April 17 – The massive nationwide cannabis cultivation even after the mid-2015 crackdown on the notorious internationally renowned marijuana-growing village of Lazarat, southern Albania, is having detrimental effects on the key agriculture sector, driving farmers away from cultivating traditional crops and making them take the risk of much more profitable illegal cannabis growing. The thriving cannabis industry has most recently been blamed as one of the key factors with an impact on huge losses incurred by the developing Albanian bee industry, causing dozens of millions of euros in damage to beekeepers. The Albanian Association of Beekeepers estimates that 40…