REGIONAL MARIJUANA GROWTH ON THE DECLINE, OFFICIALS SAY

Even though marijuana remains a problem, drug enforcement officials say
they see a decline in crops throughout Southeast Tennessee. "Years ago, we
used to find it by the acre," said Dale Hesketh, an agent with the
Governor's Task Force for Marijuana Eradication. "The biggest bust we've
seen lately was what we found in Bledsoe (County) last year." Last year,
investigators found 176,000 plants with an estimated value of $80 million
in Bledsoe County, the state's largest ever find. Five years ago
hemp-hunters found a stand of 18,000 plants. But Bledsoe is the exception,
said Mark Hutchins, chief law enforcement officer with the Alcoholic
Beverage Commission. Bradley, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Marion and Rhea
counties have shown significant decreases in cannabis plantings, he said.
"Looking back, Southeast Tennessee - especially Grundy County - was one of
the highest producers (of marijuana)," Mr. Hutchins said. "Now everyone's
more into meth." Although drug enforcement officials said marijuana
confiscation levels have dropped because of an increase in methamphetamine
production, it's still the state's No. 1 cash crop, with a street value of
more than $1 billion a year, Mr. Hutchins said. "We found 10,000 plants
here last week, and somebody was planning on smoking that," said Rhea
County Sheriff Leon Sneed. Almost two-thirds of the plants are grown atop
the Cumberland Plateau, drug enforcers said. Last August, authorities
recovered more than 166,000 marijuana plants growing in a cornfield near
U.S. Highway 127 at the head of the Sequatchie Valley. This year, the task
force already has found more than 360,000 plants in Tennessee. "These
growers jump around a lot - from county to county," Mr. Hutchins said. "If
they don't plant it on their own property, they're hard to track down."
According to District Attorney Mike Taylor with the 12th Judicial District,
growers in Bledsoe, Rhea and Grundy historically have planted marijuana on
land owned by others, either the U.S. government or big landowners. "It's
usually planted out in no-man's land," Mr. Taylor said.