Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jan 2006
Source: Columbia Missourian (MO)
Copyright: 2006 Columbia Missourian
Contact:  http://www.columbiamissourian.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2282
Author: Nate Birt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)

PROGRAM ERADICATES MARIJUANA PLANTS

More than 10,000 cultivated marijuana plants and 4.5 million wild 
ones were eradicated in 2005 as part of a state program, according to 
a news release Monday from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Law enforcement agencies made 450 related arrests, the release said. 
Operation Cash Crop was begun in the 1980s, said Lt. Tim Hull of the 
patrol's public information and education division. Funded in part by 
federal grant money, the operation draws in law enforcement agencies 
from across the state including the Missouri National Guard and local 
law enforcement officials. Different organizations become involved as 
they are needed, depending on the location of the plants and whether 
officials are already conducting surveillance of an area, Hull said.

He said the passage of time has made finding wild marijuana 
especially important because of the high THC content built up in it. 
The transportation of hemp rope during one of the world wars resulted 
in marijuana's proliferation along railroad tracks and ditches, Hull 
said. "It'll grow just about anywhere in Missouri," Hull said, but an 
especially large quantity grows in the northwest part of the state. 
Forests in the state also contain marijuana plants, he said. Once the 
plants have been gathered, they are incinerated.

Information about plants can be reported anonymously to law 
enforcement by calling 800-223-9333.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom