"We will eradicate drugs from Albania" Berisha warns: We will maintain a very strict stance after May 11

The leader of the Democratic Party, Sali Berisha, has promised that if the DP comes to power on May 11, it will take a very strict stance against the cultivation of narcotic plants.

Berisha made the comments during a conversation with Medicinal Plant Producers, where he said that the DP government will eradicate drugs in Albania, writes A2 CNN.

He also warned all those who have received licenses from the Rama government to plant cannabis that they will be revoked, as according to the former prime minister, they are poison licenses.

Excerpt from Berisha's speech:

I thank you for your interventions and I assure you that we consider this issue to be of national importance, not just a regional or district issue.

Albania is a region very rich in aromatic and medicinal plants, with great benefits for their cultivation, treatment, collection and export.

So we first, Philip told me in a previous meeting, you should align us with olives and walnuts. His request was fair. Very fair.

I guarantee that this will happen in the very first acts.

We will give great priority to this sector, which means that for every hectare, for every production unit, for every storage space, for every investment in their processing, in their industry, we will remain determined to subsidize, to lend with soft loans, to create every facility.

You are realistic about the profits from this sector because you know the difficulties you face and you have ambitions to double them, but Albania's potential is to increase them fivefold without question.

We have 80 percent of our surface area covered by aromatic plants, medicinal plants, and essential oil plants.

Plus, we shouldn't hesitate to plant anything that grows on land that traditionally doesn't have these expensive plants.

We need to conduct more in-depth studies with our institutes to identify by species, by groups, those that are the most costly, the most profitable, and Albania is full of such.

So, we need to mark a radical turning point in this sector, where farmers can prosper, can increase production everywhere in this country.

Today you are suffering from the fall of the euro. This is temporary, but I guarantee you that after May 11, the first board to be established is the board to protect you from this.

What does it mean? The state will compensate you and all exporters for the fall of the euro in a way that will allow you to continue with the same level of profits as if the euro had its natural exchange rate and not the drug exchange rate.

We do this for you, we do it for all exporters.

I emphasized the issue of tariffs. We will adopt zero tariffs, but if this does not work for major reasons of the other importing country, then we will compensate your tariff, the state will recognize it and compensate the 10 percent.

You will be part of our decisions.

You will be part of all the decisions we make.

This sector, by giving priority, of course, cannot be given priority on paper, but priority is given with strong financial support in all its links.

We will subsidize and offer soft loans to all those who want to strengthen the processing industry so that we can export as many final products as possible. This is in the interest of the country and we will do this.

To close this meeting, you need to assure farmers that there will be a completely different policy, a completely different attitude towards them and this sector.

We have a very successful practice. When we started the olive project we had 4.2 million olive roots inherited from all time. We handed it over with 11.3 olive roots.

We subsidized 2,500 to 3,000 euros per hectare planted with olive trees.

We will strongly subsidize the aromatic plants sector.

Just as we will protect them where they are threatened because they contain medicinal plants, which you could even destroy out of greed, but that won't happen. We will define a good framework so that they don't just disappear, but grow and are used.

So it will be a completely new policy and with great confidence that you will implement it and become promoters of its implementation.

We will eradicate drugs from Albania! We are against it and I say to those who received those licenses from Eid Rama, those are poison licenses. You better not commit the sin of planting drugs because the government after May 11 will absolutely have a very strict stance towards it.

Albania cannot develop on drugs, Albania has its own fantastic, extraordinary natural heritage, so I call on those farmers who took those licenses for votes to burn them, not to fill those areas with cannabis, with poisonous plants, but to see and plant aromatic plants, which have an export, are of great contribution. (A2 Televizion)