POTSPOTTING

Marijuana eradication 'an ongoing battle' for law enforcement

MARION - "We're going to go over here to the right," Marion County
Sheriff Tim Bailey said Tuesday, flying one of the office's
helicopters 500 feet above Hoch Road on the county's west side. He
circles the aircraft around, passing over a browning cornfield. "Right
down there."

"I see it," said co-pilot Deputy Ryan Zempter.

Their trained eyes have spotted what they've been looking for - a
bright green spot tucked between cornstalks. A short time later,
officers on the ground make their way through the corn and confirm
they have located one small marijuana plant. The plant is cut and
loaded into a truck. Officers draw a smiley face in the dirt.

Bailey and Zempter continue on their search, heading toward Meeker,
until windy conditions force them back to the airport to land,
finishing up the final day of marijuana eradication in Marion County.

Officers removed 68 plants from the county this year, down slightly
from the 74 harvested last year. Bailey said that is not unusual;
since the eradication effort began in the early 1980s there has been a
steady decline in the number of plants harvested.

"It's been an ongoing battle with the drug growers. Back in the '80s,
1,000 or more was not unusual," he said. "As we began to fly them and
take this to the air, they started taking the grow inside and started
breaking them up into smaller plots."

Smaller plots means that growers are less likely to lose their entire
crop, should officers discover their location. Growers have also
become more covert in their operations, going to great lengths to
conceal these illegal plants.

"You can spot these from the air in the corn quite readily," Bailey
said. Growers have taken to planting in wooded areas, along streams
and even near their own homes, which makes it more difficult for law
enforcement to locate.

"There are telltale signs that you are looking for other than the
plant," he said. Growers typically use markers as a means to lead them
back to their crop, which can be difficult to find in large corn fields.

Bailey said one question he often hears is whether the sheriff's
office uses infrared to detect indoor growing operations. While the
sheriff's office does have the capability to use infrared, which helps
detect "hot houses," Bailey said that state guidelines require law
enforcement officials to have additional evidence indicating a grow
operation is occurring at a particular location.

"You're not allowed to take this unit and drive around and look at
houses," he said. "They have to have some other evidence."

As is typical, no arrests came out of Marion County during this year's
eradication effort. Growers seldom grow on their own
land so, short of being caught with the plants, law enforcement
officials find it nearly impossible to determine who is responsible
for a crop.

City Law Director Mark Russell said that cultivation of marijuana is a
minor misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of a $100 fine. The charge
depends, however, on the amount of marijuana grown. A crop of more
than 1,000 grams can yield a felony charge punishable by six to 12
months in prison and a $2,500 fine.

In 2006, there were five cases of marijuana cultivation prosecuted in
Marion Municipal Court, Russell said. But the charge of marijuana
cultivation is not representative of the marijuana problem in Marion
County.

"Reviewing the last three years, on average we will have around 600 of
these charges a year," he said in regard to misdemeanor counts of
possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. These charges
normally stem from other incidents, whether it be a traffic offense or
a criminal investigation.

"Obviously, as a prosecutor, any illegal drug use is a problem. I see
these 600 cases as a problem," he said, noting that Marion Municipal
Court handles approximately 15,000 cases a year. "We've successfully
prosecuted these charges 93 percent of the time."

According to the 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an
estimated 97.5 million Americans age 12 or older tried marijuana at
least once in their lifetimes. In 2005, a total of 4,209,086 marijuana
plants were seized in the United States, up from 3,200,040 plants in
2004, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

A 2006 community assessment survey funded by the Marion Community
Foundation indicated that of the Marion County adults surveyed, 1
percent indicated they had used marijuana between one and four times
in the previous 30 days and another 1 percent indicated they had used
the drug five or more times within the past 30 days. The majority, 98
percent, said they had not used marijuana.

"It's the only criminal drug offense that's left to us at the
misdemeanor level," Russell said. "We take it very seriously."

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DEPUTIES HELPING IN STATE EFFORT

While the Marion County Sheriff's Office may be finished with
eradication locally, two deputies will continue the effort to curb
marijuana cultivation in Ohio.

Deputies Ryan Zempter and John Butterworth, the office's two pilots,
have been busy the past few months acting as the eye in the sky for
the Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation.

In June, Sheriff Tim Bailey announced that the office had entered
into a contract with the state agency for the eradication effort in
Ohio's northwestern counties. The sheriff's office will gross more
than $45,000 from the contract, which will allow for the operations
of the office's two helicopters throughout the year.

In all, the deputies have assisted in locating approximately 3,000
plants, each with an estimated street value of $1,000. These numbers
are down from past eradication efforts for various reasons, including
this season's dry weather conditions.