[OG Kush]

Throughout Kentucky, marijuana plants are growing amid unsuspecting farmers' corn crops and in wooded areas off rural roads, according to the Kentucky State Police, which is working with other agencies to crack down on the illegal business.

Already this year, local, state and federal agencies have cut down and destroyed tens of thousands more plants than they did by this time last year.

By mid-July 2005, police had found 162,493 plants around the state. This year, a state police task force alone has found 226,497 plants, valued by authorities at nearly a half-billion dollars, said Lt. Ed Shemelya, who heads the marijuana eradication program for the state police.

And this year's numbers don't include plants that individual state police posts have found. In a three-day span last week, for instance, the Madisonville post found nearly 1,500 plants.

While most marijuana distributed in the United States still is imported from Mexico, about 2,500 metric tons is produced in the U.S. each year, according to the national Office of Drug Control Policy.

Most of that is grown in seven states -- including Kentucky, said Scott Burns, a deputy director of the national office. Tennessee, West Virginia, California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii round out the top growing states.

The national drug control office is in its second year of focusing its efforts and resources in those states; it provides $3.5 million for eradication efforts nationwide, with most of the money spent in the top seven states.

To find plants, police use helicopters and patrol areas where they've found plants before or have gotten tips, said Trooper Stu Recke with the Madisonville post.

Some arrests have been made, but it's difficult because the plants are grown in remote areas and it's hard to catch people in the act, Shemelya said.

Last year, 117 people were arrested for cultivating marijuana, which is a felony that carries up to five years in prison.

Shemelya said he believes some growers think the "reward far exceeds the possible risks right now."

But Recke added, "the main thing is that we get the dope and we destroy it. If they don't have it, they can't sell it."


Newshawk: SX420 - 420Girls.com
Source: 420Times.com
Author: Jessie Halladay
Copyright: 2005 The Courier-Journal
Contact: jhalladay@courier-journal.com
Website: http://www.courier-journal.com