SMALL NEED TO HEED WEED

No Such Lack Of Flak For Crack

HANCOCK COUNTY - In the past few months, county narcotics agents have
been pulling wild weed from weird places.

Several residents have reported strange-looking plants growing along
roadsides, in ditches or even under a stop sign on a busy street.

The mysterious weeds are actually, just that, weed - marijuana, pot,
herb, chronic, maryjane. Whatever one wants to call it, wild cannabis
plants are growing naturally in some parts of the county.

"This is the first time I've ever seen marijuana like this, just
growing along the side of the road," said Matt Carl, who runs the
Hancock County Narcotics Division.

Agents believe seeds were scattered when Hurricane Katrina sacked the
homes of some ganja-growing residents in the vicinity.

The ditch weeds are not exactly "wild," Carl said, because someone
likely knows how they ended up in strange places.

"This stuff didn't just happen to grow there," Carl said. "It's
coming from nearby houses where it was growing when the storm washed it out."

But Cheech and Chong are unlikely to bounce out from behind a debris
pile claiming ownership of the roadside pot, so agents are unable to
charge anyone for harvesting the stray crops, although the division
has made several recent arrests of suspects allegedly farming pot at
their homes.

Hancock agents say the stalks they are finding are usually little
more than a foot tall, and many experts say dope smokers are more
likely to get nauseated than high from the scrawny plants.

Most hard-core herb lovers know the roadside weed is low quality, but
some dealers will often strip leaves from the stalks and mix them
with a much-higher grade of cultivated marijuana.

"The plants we're finding are nothing that looks healthy or like it's
being taken care of," Carl said. "Most of what was spread after the
storm was probably killed by the saltwater."

Carl says the ditch dope is not like kudzu, which spread unfettered
once released into the wild. He said the narcotics division has
eradicated just a handful of naturally occurring marijuana plants.

"We've gotten calls about some growing near a ditch, some under a
stop sign and a few others, but it's nothing that's taking over the
county," Carl said.

What is becoming a problem is crack cocaine. According to agents,
four out of every five undercover buys yield crack cocaine.

"Maybe because crack is easy to cook and easy to conceal, or maybe
it's because of the money people have now, I don't know," Carl said.
"The marijuana plants are not a problem, but what is growing is crack
cocaine (use)."

For years, drug trafficking in rural parts of the county focused
largely on crystal meth, while the drug of choice in Bay St. Louis
and Waveland was crack cocaine.

Crystal meth is so potent authorities talk about it in terms of
grams, not pounds or kilos. It's a home-brewed drug concocted using
many items purchased from local retail outlets.

Carl said most local stores are now reporting to law enforcement any
costumers who purchase the ingredients for crystal meth, which has
hurt the drug's popularity and likely contributed to the crack
explosion in the county.

Crack and crystal meth top the list of enemies for narcotics agents
in Hancock's war on drugs and the hazy task of chasing down owners of
stray cannabis seeds is lower priority.