POT CROP ANOTHER VICTIM OF RAINFALL

Southwestern Ontario corn and bean farmers can take heart -- they're not
the only growers facing a tougher year from cool, wet weather.

Ontario's underground cash crop -- marijuana -- isn't looking that great
either, say officers working on the annual OPP eradication program.

"It is certainly not as large a crop as it has been in the past few years
when it was warmer. The wet and cooler weather has slowed it down," Const.
Hal Brown said yesterday.

The OPP eradication team was finishing up a two-day blitz of Elgin County
yesterday, seizing illegal marijuana plants growing in farm fields.

Most of the marijuana is found growing in corn fields, said Brown.

Working with a helicopter to spot the illegal crop, police officers
yesterday seized more than 300 plants.

Brown said police will eventually search all Ontario counties for
marijuana, working through the fall to keep the crop out of the hands of
growers.