:00:00. > :00:50.BBC Pop Up is the BBC's mobile bureau.
:00:51. > :00:53.We travel to different cities for a month at a time
:00:54. > :01:03.Lebanon is a very small country at the edge of
:01:04. > :01:07.Historically, these borders have meant that it's
:01:08. > :01:10.become a centre of many Middle Eastern conflicts, despite its small
:01:11. > :01:16.For centuries, it's acted as a refuge for
:01:17. > :01:26.We have Christians, Sunni Muslims, Shia
:01:27. > :01:33.It has taken in more Syrian refugees than any other country in
:01:34. > :01:36.the world except Turkey, with one in five people in Lebanon being a
:01:37. > :01:40.For two years, the country was left without a president, but
:01:41. > :01:43.that ended in October last year, when we elected this guy.
:01:44. > :02:07.So we're currently doing the BBC Pop-up story booth.
:02:08. > :02:16.Basically, we set up a camera in random
:02:17. > :02:17.locations about town, and we
:02:18. > :02:19.ask people what stories they want to tell.
:02:20. > :02:24.The best thing about Lebanon is probably, at my age, is
:02:25. > :02:36.What I really love about it is its diversity.
:02:37. > :02:45.Where ever you go, you will find people from different groups and
:02:46. > :02:50.religions. The majority is Christian and religion, they are probably
:02:51. > :02:54.about 100 Jewish people. It is very friendly. You come down to a streak
:02:55. > :03:02.that there is, you will see Christians and Muslims, having a
:03:03. > :03:10.great time together. You can either speak English or French or both.
:03:11. > :03:19.Actually, a lot of food came from Lebanon. Commerce, falafel, tabulate
:03:20. > :03:32.salad. What is the meat on mystic cold? Leben on is a mix of hostility
:03:33. > :03:40.and positivity, see you have angry people and positive people trying to
:03:41. > :03:45.do things. What would a good story be? Give me a good story. It would
:03:46. > :03:50.be interesting to highlight the fact that Beirut was destroyed and
:03:51. > :03:55.rebuilt seven times. We're not having a frank conversation among
:03:56. > :04:02.ourselves, we're talking about women's issues, income inequality,
:04:03. > :04:08.gay rights. I suggest you go to the Valley controlled by the Shia
:04:09. > :04:15.Muslims. They are trying to find out where the supply of hashes coming
:04:16. > :04:23.from. They tried to grow it. I was told that is a lot of hash each. I
:04:24. > :04:26.guess it does. I've never tried it. I'm not looking to get into
:04:27. > :04:40.something like that, but I know a lot of people do. It looks that
:04:41. > :04:51.there's only one story we can do then, hashish. Cannabis has been in
:04:52. > :04:54.Lebanon for centuries, but I quickly found most people were not keen to
:04:55. > :04:58.talk about it openly and camera. Punishment is just smoking can be
:04:59. > :05:03.harsh, so people don't want to admit they do it. Eventually, I found
:05:04. > :05:06.someone who had written extensively about hashish in Lebanon and he
:05:07. > :05:12.agreed to talk, as long as we didn't show his face. Tell me what I need
:05:13. > :05:17.to know about hashish in Lebanon. It's so common now across all
:05:18. > :05:23.classes and regions. What is the low? If it's not your first offence,
:05:24. > :05:30.you could get a few months or years. For dealers it is more. Some people
:05:31. > :05:34.charge for using, because they're one of the few people who don't
:05:35. > :05:40.smoke. But nobody talks about it, because it is stigmatised. A person
:05:41. > :05:43.who suffers from that will be ostracised. Who is making money from
:05:44. > :05:52.it? Everyone is making money from it. The growers, the dealers, of
:05:53. > :05:55.course and sadly, the people entrusted in fighting drugs are
:05:56. > :05:58.making a good income out of it. The only people really paying the price
:05:59. > :06:09.of young people. Where'd you find the dealers in the country?
:06:10. > :06:17.I wanted to speak to one of these growers to find out how they could
:06:18. > :06:21.justify a tree that is illegal and violent. During the Civil War,
:06:22. > :06:28.cannabis culture flourished here and I heard the Syrian war was causing
:06:29. > :06:34.the same problem. This is pretty much the most dangerous and lawless
:06:35. > :06:38.part of the country, very to Syria and it has seen Isis infiltration,
:06:39. > :06:41.kidnappings, bombings, not nice things. But it is famous for
:06:42. > :06:52.something very different and that's for having the mass of Lebanon
:06:53. > :07:03.hashish farms. We're going to speak to one of the drug lords. We're
:07:04. > :07:07.actually near Syria. Yes, Syria is right this way. If infiltration
:07:08. > :07:14.happens, it can happen three here, so there are a lot of checkpoints
:07:15. > :07:25.here. Most of the suicide bombings that happen in Beirut, everybody
:07:26. > :07:28.came through that way. We're currently waiting for the hashish
:07:29. > :07:31.farmer. He's asked us to come here, because he doesn't want us to come
:07:32. > :07:40.to his house, because he doesn't know who we are. It's pretty
:07:41. > :07:52.dangerous over there. Nice to meet you. Thank you for having us.
:07:53. > :08:01.Nice to have the knowledge that there is a couple of grenades in the
:08:02. > :08:08.back of the car. There you go. He's just handed me, is that an AK-47?
:08:09. > :08:14.He's passing it around. Does everyone know who you are? Are you
:08:15. > :08:24.the kingpin here? If we tell someone we're with you, we're safe? This is
:08:25. > :08:28.so you can tell someone is a drug so you can tell someone is a drug
:08:29. > :08:37.kingpin, his ice is about ten times bigger than anyone else in the area.
:08:38. > :08:50.If we leaked this guy off, it's game over. Do you have kids? That's a lot
:08:51. > :09:01.of lobbying going on. You've got a golden pistol. Is it loaded right
:09:02. > :09:13.now? He's just pulled out a machine gun and a bazooka. Is that a
:09:14. > :09:23.bazooka? What do you use the bazooka for? You've use this against Isis?
:09:24. > :09:27.Ali told us that recently, the so-called Islamic State infiltrated
:09:28. > :09:32.the nearby village. He said as soon as he heard about it, he jumped on a
:09:33. > :09:38.truck and picked up weapons with some of the other hashish farmers,
:09:39. > :09:45.and according to him, they fought them off. Because they are
:09:46. > :09:51.distracted with Isis, they are distracted with the threat of the
:09:52. > :10:02.threat of Syria. Have you actually fired this?
:10:03. > :10:12.Is this where the magic happens? Why did you choose black and red?
:10:13. > :10:17.You've got good taste. It seems that everybody is your enemy, because
:10:18. > :10:28.Hezbollah don't want you to do this, the government don't want you to,
:10:29. > :10:34.Isis. Who is on your side? What do you want your legacy to be?
:10:35. > :10:35.Do you want to be really famous? Do you want everyone to know who you
:10:36. > :11:17.are you did? He is giving me a tour. Here we go.
:11:18. > :11:19.While. Mountains of hashish. Hashish is illegal in Lebanon. How
:11:20. > :11:39.can you be so open about it? Have you had to actually fight
:11:40. > :12:01.against the government to protect crops?
:12:02. > :12:20.There's just hashish everywhere, were soaked in it. How much do you
:12:21. > :12:34.make? Who is buying this hashish? How did you get hashish from here to
:12:35. > :12:38.Europe? It's difficult to very tight Ali's claims about the government,
:12:39. > :12:44.but Lebanon is thought to have big problems with corruption. You remind
:12:45. > :12:47.me a bit of someone like Pablo Escobar. You happy to appear on
:12:48. > :12:54.camera. Have you actually been convicted by
:12:55. > :13:18.the government of anything in court? How does that feel, to be sentenced
:13:19. > :13:28.to death. You have a hashish farm, you have killed a lot of people. Do
:13:29. > :13:35.you not deserve to go to jail? If you run this country, would you
:13:36. > :13:39.legalise hashish? You seem like a difficult man to pin down, because
:13:40. > :13:43.on the one hand, ECU for this to try and make money for the people in the
:13:44. > :13:47.area, but then you also kill people and you are dealing in an illegal
:13:48. > :13:49.trade. Do you think you could have done it another way that wasn't
:13:50. > :14:08.illegal? Do you think I'll get into trouble
:14:09. > :14:10.with the police because I have hashish leaves on my shoes and on my
:14:11. > :14:28.clogs? That was a weird day. Ali was either
:14:29. > :14:32.really friendly uncle who foot so happens to be a killer and a drug
:14:33. > :14:38.dealer. And he was massively open about it. Back to Beirut now. I'm a
:14:39. > :14:42.bit concerned, because we've all got hashish all over us and if they find
:14:43. > :14:48.you, you get in serious trouble and get put in jail. Were going to try
:14:49. > :14:55.dust ourselves off. There are checkpoints all the way back. Highly
:14:56. > :15:00.is quoted as out of his village, as he said it was unsafe to do
:15:01. > :15:07.otherwise. Then we headed back to Beirut. Despite being covered in
:15:08. > :15:10.layers of hashish from Ali's factory, we headed straight to the
:15:11. > :15:14.police office. I wanted to know how Ali could be so open about this
:15:15. > :15:20.without getting into trouble with the authorities. People speaking to
:15:21. > :15:23.hear tell me the police too quick to punish the small-time consumers and
:15:24. > :15:29.are too reluctant to punish the big-time growers in the country.
:15:30. > :15:43.I've arranged to meet the head of drug enforcement here to see if he
:15:44. > :15:45.agrees. English? BBC. Yes. I'm not purposely as close to you in the
:15:46. > :16:08.lift. Where are we going now? What is in these things? Hashish. Do
:16:09. > :16:10.you consider hashish as bad as heroin? Hashish is the most
:16:11. > :16:16.dangerous drugs for the human being. How many people do you arrest each
:16:17. > :16:22.year for hashish? Thousands of people, hundreds a year. 2000, 3000
:16:23. > :16:29.during a year. I can put you in jail for three years. Three years for
:16:30. > :16:38.hashish? Yes, all the boxes, we have drugs. We have big agriculture for
:16:39. > :16:43.thousands square of land for hashish. You know about that? We
:16:44. > :16:48.went to a farm to see. All, you went to a farm? That was one of the most
:16:49. > :16:53.amazing things was seeing a hashish farmer who was willing to go on
:16:54. > :16:58.camera and talk about it. Is it not illegal to grow? Yes, it's not
:16:59. > :17:05.legal. How did he get away with growing hashish and talking about
:17:06. > :17:12.it? Since the war in Syria, our government took the decision to send
:17:13. > :17:18.us and destroy the hashish. So you can tackle these guys because of the
:17:19. > :17:24.war in Syria and resources are elsewhere? Our ability is not
:17:25. > :17:30.enough, because most of the guys there have maybe weapons more than
:17:31. > :17:34.the police. When we went to the spartan, the guy was kind of taking
:17:35. > :17:42.out all the weapons he has, boasting that the government can never touch.
:17:43. > :17:49.If I have 100 soldiers, I can go and put him like a mouse, OK? On the one
:17:50. > :17:56.hand, you have these kind of drug dealers and hashish farmers, who can
:17:57. > :18:00.get away with it and talk openly on TV about growing hashish, but then
:18:01. > :18:04.you have people who are small-time consumers, who are scared to even
:18:05. > :18:08.talk about smoking it. How has it got to this point? It's a good
:18:09. > :18:13.question. It's something to make ourselves upset. We are interested
:18:14. > :18:18.to get the drugs dealer and put in jail for hundreds of years. What we
:18:19. > :18:24.do with addicts and drug users, like sick people. One argument he would
:18:25. > :18:29.users there's nothing else for him to farm but hashish. He has a liar.
:18:30. > :18:33.They try to make that Beagle, because they benefit to make the
:18:34. > :18:39.hashish legal. It's war between the good guy and the bad guy. Would it
:18:40. > :18:43.not make society safer in a way, because you wouldn't need drug
:18:44. > :18:51.lords, the government could control hashish farming? Yes, I cannot
:18:52. > :19:01.expect one day that hashish will be legal. It's clear that the war in
:19:02. > :19:03.Syria has had a huge effect, but it doesn't mean they have stopped
:19:04. > :19:16.arresting people for smoking hashish. This man was in jail for a
:19:17. > :19:21.hashish conviction. It was overturned, but it changes like the
:19:22. > :19:26.good. I was a straight-A student, but my life was put on hold, because
:19:27. > :19:31.I was sent to prison for smoking. They got me, I went to the station.
:19:32. > :19:37.They put the only torture device, where they handcuff you and your
:19:38. > :19:42.upside down. I was 19 at the time. How long are you in prison for? I
:19:43. > :19:48.was in prison for a year and three months. Did they find hashish on
:19:49. > :19:53.you? There was no evidence. The arrested Ewing said you would a drug
:19:54. > :19:57.dealer, basically. Did you deal in drugs? Not at all, I don't be too.
:19:58. > :20:03.What was the worst thing that happened to you in prison? I got
:20:04. > :20:11.knifed. It is a horrible place. You find killers. Block B was controlled
:20:12. > :20:16.by Isis. The social destruction that was the hardest point about the
:20:17. > :20:21.experience. When you're a guy who has been to prison. Some people say
:20:22. > :20:31.you are doing something illegal. To me, is not illegal. What am I doing?
:20:32. > :20:36.Smoking and at home. It's crazy, it must read your life, you got kicked
:20:37. > :20:43.out of university and you're still smoking hashish. It was the
:20:44. > :20:47.government. Do you see yourself as a criminal? The government made me a
:20:48. > :20:55.criminal. I'm not sure. I'm a nice guy. I just smoke. His story shows
:20:56. > :21:00.just how serious the consequences can be from messing around with
:21:01. > :21:06.hashish. For a country with so much of it, could it ever be legal? Judy
:21:07. > :21:11.the country's civil War, the industry generated hundreds of
:21:12. > :21:14.billions of dollars. A couple of years ago, the leader of the
:21:15. > :21:20.Progressive party made headlines after he treated calling for
:21:21. > :21:24.legalisation of cannabis. Some got excited. I met with one of his party
:21:25. > :21:30.members to see if they still thought that way. He seemed busy, so I had
:21:31. > :21:35.to be quick. So you want hashish to be legalised in Lebanon on? Yes. Do
:21:36. > :21:42.you see that is something that will actually happen. It's not easy. They
:21:43. > :21:52.want people to be able to smoke it on the streets grow it freely?
:21:53. > :22:08.If it's legal to grow here in farm but illegal to smoke it, what's the
:22:09. > :22:16.point? OK, all right. Thank very much.
:22:17. > :22:23.It doesn't seem that marijuana is going to be legalised any time soon
:22:24. > :22:26.in Lebanon. What does seem possible is growing it and exporting it
:22:27. > :22:39.illegal, but smoking it could get you into big trouble. Some people
:22:40. > :22:52.say that is happening already. Do I just talk about something? OK. Is he
:22:53. > :22:55.a Pablo Escobar after season two or the episode where he's running for
:22:56. > :23:07.president? Nobody knows anything about him yet. I don't know.
:23:08. > :23:24.Hashish, I don't know that much about hashish. What do you know
:23:25. > :23:28.about hashish? I know nothing. It's very quiet on the weather front
:23:29. > :23:33.today, but there are some changes afoot. In fact, early next week,
:23:34. > :23:34.winning four and a chill,