BRAZILIAN AUTHORITIES DESTROY 37-ACRE POT FARM

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazilian military police used spades, hoes and
tractors to destroy 37 acres of marijuana, one of the country's largest
ever drug plantations, Globo Network television said Monday.

Police spent three days in the interior of the northeastern state of
Pernambuco destroying some 65,000 marijuana plants, which were ready for
harvesting and marketing across Brazil, Globo said. It did not give a
precise location for the plantation.

"I've been working in the region for 10 years and I've never seen so much
marijuana as there is in this area," said military policeman Jose Marcos do
Santos.

The drug farmers diverted water from a nearby reservoir to irrigate their
crop and were using public land that was earmarked for the resettlement of
refugees from recent flooding.

Brazilians spent nearly $7 billion on illegal drugs like marijuana and
cocaine in 1997, an amount equal to half the money the government spent
fighting illegal drugs.

Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service

Checked-by: Richard Lake