And of course, it (growing marijuana) has been a salvation enterprise for many farmers who were devastated by the past decade’s agricultural crises. “Looking back, I wouldn’t do it, but at the time it seemed like the only way out,” says Dick Kurth, 59, a Fort Benton, Montana cattle rancher, who just finished serving 15 months at the state prison for running a marijuana operation worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. “The family needed money for food on the table. It appeared we could solve our financial situation within a two-year period, wipe out our debts and keep the family together like we had been for five generations.

I figured people who produce alcohol and tobacco sleep at night, and we should be able to live with this.”

U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 6, 1989, p. 28