PROGRAM ERADICATES MARIJUANA PLANTS

More than 10,000 cultivated marijuana plants and 4.5 million wild
ones were eradicated in 2005 as part of a state program, according to
a news release Monday from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Law enforcement agencies made 450 related arrests, the release said.
Operation Cash Crop was begun in the 1980s, said Lt. Tim Hull of the
patrol's public information and education division. Funded in part by
federal grant money, the operation draws in law enforcement agencies
from across the state including the Missouri National Guard and local
law enforcement officials. Different organizations become involved as
they are needed, depending on the location of the plants and whether
officials are already conducting surveillance of an area, Hull said.

He said the passage of time has made finding wild marijuana
especially important because of the high THC content built up in it.
The transportation of hemp rope during one of the world wars resulted
in marijuana's proliferation along railroad tracks and ditches, Hull
said. "It'll grow just about anywhere in Missouri," Hull said, but an
especially large quantity grows in the northwest part of the state.
Forests in the state also contain marijuana plants, he said. Once the
plants have been gathered, they are incinerated.

Information about plants can be reported anonymously to law
enforcement by calling 800-223-9333.