U.S. SEEKS TO DESTROY POT CROPS IN NATIONAL FORESTS

The Bush administration has launched a campaign to eradicate
thousands of acres of illegal marijuana plants from California's
national forests, the U.S. Forest Service said Thursday.

Officials said crime rings have planted about 6,000 acres of
marijuana plants in federal forests and often send armed squatters to
set up camp and tend the lucrative crop. In one recent three-week
period, officials pulled up more than 280,000 marijuana plants, worth
about $1.8 billion, largely in California's Shasta-Trinity National
Forest. Sixteen people were arrested and 10 weapons were seized in
the operations. The new campaign will seek and destroy marijuana
plants in national forests and step up clearing of fertilizer or
chemicals from plantation sites.