A huge plume of marijuana smoke is hovering over an Albanian town after a police crackdown on its notorious drug trade.
Heavily armed police were pelted with gunfire, grenades and even mortars as they tried to rid the town of Lazarat, Europe's biggest producer of marijuana, of its main crop, the Associated Press reports.
The hills of the village in the country's south yields around 900 tons of cannabis a year, worth close to $6.5 billion – or nearly half the small country's GDP.
The operation in the village, population 5000, is in its fifth day has seen the destruction of 80,000 plants and more than 12.8 tons of cannabis while 80 houses have been searched.
Residents have reportedly seen the events unfold on live television, burning their own crops as authorities close in.
"What did I do wrong? I just wanted five plants like everybody else," Lumturi Koli, a 42-year-old widower, told Reuters.
"I should have been first to plant them because I have to care for my children."
While thirteen people have been arrested for drug offences and firing on police, miraculously no-one has been killed despite long blasts of gunfire.
Four have been slightly wounded, including two shepherds who were hit by stray rounds.
The raids have been part of an overhaul push by Albania and its new Socialist government to gain entry into the European Union.
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Heavily armed police were pelted with gunfire, grenades and even mortars 
People living in small towns have guns, grenades and mortars? So they really are protecting their plantations!
"What did I do wrong? I just wanted five plants like everybody else," Lumturi Koli, a 42-year-old widower, told Reuters.
"I should have been first to plant them because I have to care for my children."
Sheesh, what happened to using land for growing food crops and keeping goats and chickens?
@icyfroth wrote:Are you following this thread?
http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Community-Spirit/My-brother-and-Self-Defense/m-p/1341203#U1341203
Still think it's sad that all that MJ was destroyed?
No I haven't been following that thread.
And yes, it is a shame that the cannabis was destroyed....think abut how many cancer patients it could of treated.
I wonder how many people quit their Friday night Champagne because they heard on the news, some out of control alcoholic glassed
someone in a pub.....I wonder when they will stop providing morphine in hospitals because some people in the community become
junkies........enjoy your drink.........
I somehow doubt that mj was destined for medical purposes, siggie 
But I do worry that ppl who were craving their daily smoke may have had to pay a higher price because of a sudden shortage, maybe using the rent or grocery money, or even having to go without and needing to steal it. Or venting their frustration on those around them.
I agree with you, it's sad.
Again..... think about how many cancer patients it could have benefited...such a waste...
