OXFORD POLICE FOIL POT GROWERS

Oxford Community Police put a dent in the illegal marijuana crop this
week.

Officers removed about 180 plants from a Milldale Road corn field on
Wednesday afternoon. The marijuana was planted among corn stalks
topping eight feet in height. A mature marijuana plant can have a
street value of up to $1,000.

Before the afternoon was out, they had removed 400 plants in various
locations.

Officers zeroed in on GPS co-ordinates of suspected marijuana
plantations supplied from aerial support as part of a joint
eradication operation with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The
operation has been going on a month, and has been active in Oxford
the last two weeks. About 1,700 plants have been found in the county
during that time.

Const. Greg Fletcher said the people responsible for planting the
marijuana would likely never be found.

"If we were to sit and wait for them to harvest it . . . ," he said
arrests would be possible, but said it's a manpower issue.

Const. Laurie-Anne Maitland pointed out marijuana should not be
considered harmless.

"There's a percentage of the population that treat this as a soft
drug. It's absolutely not a soft drug," she said. "Any crack addict,
cocaine or heroin or ecstasy user started with weed. You don't
suddenly start shooting heroin in your arm."

Police have also been finding marijuana laced with crack or
methylamphetamine.

"The addictive properties are different than 20 years ago," Maitland
added.

For the farmer, who didn't wish to be identified, the marijuana being
planted in his crop cost him more than $500 in lost revenue. The area
taken by the plants would have produced about $200 worth of corn
plants. Corn knocked down by police to access the marijuana caused
close to $500 in damage.

Although this is the first time this farmer has had marijuana planted
in his fields, he said he hears of it happening to someone he knows
every year. If farmers are harvesting early corn for silage, they
find marijuana still standing. When corn is harvested later for the
kernels, farmers will typically find an empty spot in their fields.