Pubdate: Wed, 21 Sep 2005
Source: Plain Dealer, The (OH)
Copyright: 2005 The Plain Dealer
Contact:  http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342
Note: priority given to local letter writers
Author: John Caniglia, Plain Dealer Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

NE OHIO SEIZURES OF MARIJUANA YIELD '05 BUMPER CROP

The region's hot weather, combined with scattered, intense showers,
was just what marijuana plants needed.

Drug agents in the seven-county Greater Cleveland area reported
seizing $804,000 worth of the illicit plants in fields and wooded lots
- - four times as much as last year. It was the largest haul in
Northeast Ohio since 2001.

And police believe that's just a small fraction of what's
growing.

The marijuana was seized by sheriff's officers working with state
agents to spot the fields from helicopters. The figures do not include
busts by local police or marijuana cultivated at people's homes, such
as 60 plants discovered last week in Parma.

As marijuana's harvest draws to a close, authorities say Northeast
Ohio bucked a statewide trend: In most of Ohio, the hot, dry weather
wilted plants.

"You can't just throw a bunch of seeds in the ground and come back
months later and expect great plants," said Steve Bloom, editor of
High Times magazine, which monitors marijuana growth around the country.

The corn crop is a good barometer, said Scott Duff, who coordinates
marijuana seizures for the Ohio attorney general's office.

"If the corn grows, the marijuana grows, too," Duff said. "If it
doesn't get the basics, it's not going to grow."

And the corn has grown well in Northeast Ohio, farmers
say.

In Cleveland, the average high temperature for June, July and August
was 83 degrees, and average rainfall was an inch a week, according to
the National Weather Service.

In both Columbus and Cincinnati, the average high temperature was 76
degrees, and they averaged less than an inch of rain a week.

Columbus and Cincinnati each had less than 2 inches of rain for July,
but Cleveland had about double that.

Statewide, officials doubt that they will see the $50 million worth of
marijuana seized last year. Final statewide figures won't be available
for several weeks.

The leading counties in Northeast Ohio were Portage County, where
sheriff's deputies seized 200 marijuana plants, and Lorain County,
where police pulled 450.

"That's a good amount," said Lorain County sheriff's Capt. Dennis
Cavanaugh, leader of the drug task force. "It was a good year, a darn
good one."

Meigs County, the state's most prolific marijuana grower, saw the
opposite. For several years, Meigs has averaged $7 million in seizures
annually. This year, it has $5 million. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake