DRUGS FOUND NEAR SALEM IN STATEWIDE REMOVAL PLAN

30 Marijuana Plants Seen Growing Behind Cornfield

SALEM, Ind. - Hidden behind a cornfield and a rusting barbed-wire
fence, the culprits bloomed: 30 marijuana plants, their leaves
emitting a pungent odor.

Four Indiana state troopers surveyed the cache - which they said would
fetch up to $60,000 on the street - in Salem Tuesday before deciding
to remove it.

"We just ruined somebody's Christmas," said Washington County
Sheriff's Detective Brent Miller as he attached his business card to a
piece of twine wrapped around a tree limb.

Since the beginning of this year's statewide marijuana-eradication
effort in May, more than 5,000 plants have been destroyed, said
Indiana State Police Cpl. Mike Crabtree, the program's
administrator.

This year's numbers are up from the same period in 2003, when 3,567
plants were confiscated. Factors that affect how many plants are
seized include the weather, staff training and manpower, and crop locations.

Thousands of additional plants will be destroyed by the end of
October, when most of the effort is completed, Crabtree said.

"The war is getting the dope off the streets," he said. "We cannot
catch everybody, so we have to catch the biggest guys."

State police have made 229 arrests since the end of May, when the
growing season began. Last year at this time, they had made 78.

Troopers also are responsible for removing wild hemp plants, which
were grown under government sanction more than half a century ago to
produce rope for World War II naval operations. Last year they removed
more than 200 million wild marijuana plants in Northern Indiana.

These plants, which are not cultivated, have been a source of
contention between law enforcement and marijuana advocates.

"There is no evidence that the public is harvesting it or smoking it,"
said Paul Armentano, senior policy analyst for the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, an advocacy group based
in Washington, D.C. "They're wasting taxpayer dollars and government
money."

As part of the enforcement effort, officers rely on tips from farmers,
hikers, hunters and fishermen, and even relatives of the growers, to
find the plants, said Sgt. Carey Huls, who coordinates the program in
15 counties.

The effort involves 30 troopers in all 92 Indiana counties to search
cornfields, wooded areas, flower beds, attics and closets for cannabis
plants, each of which can fetch up to $2,000 each, Crabtree said.

Outdoor locations are inspected to see if the plants have been
actively cultivated, meaning the soil has been turned, the crop is
fertilized or weeds have been pulled, said Sgt. Jerry Goodin, a state
police spokesman.

The presence of mothballs or human urine to deter deer also indicates
cultivation, police officials said.

The officers coordinate with a crew of six pilots who can spot the
plants from the air because of their dark green color, Goodin said.

"It sticks out like a sore thumb," he said.

Although eradication is a part of their efforts, police "put a lot of
emphasis on who is growing the marijuana," said Trooper Dave Mitchell,
the program's district coordinator for Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Scott
and Washington counties.

Eighty percent of those arrested, mostly for indoor growing, have
criminal records ranging from public intoxication to murder, Crabtree
said. Search warrants sometimes find other illegal narcotics as well
as firearms, he said.

Officers have heard a variety of reasons for why people produce
marijuana, Goodin said.

"Some people tell you they're growing it to sell, some for medical
reasons. Others say, 'I was just growing it to see if I could,'" he
said.

Possession of the plants is punishable by up to five years in prison,
and having more than 1,000 plants results in a mandatory 10-year
sentence, Crabtree said.

The eradication program is partially funded by a federal Drug
Enforcement Administration grant of $667,000 that goes toward
officers' overtime and the operation of a surveillance fleet of eight
helicopters and four airplanes. Crabtree said he has asked DEA for an
additional $50,000.

"We can do something or do nothing," he said. "We're never going to
find all of it. We're never going to stop it (cannabis growth). (But)
if we do nothing, they win."