Marijuana Plants Confiscated

{Frankfort, Kentucky}…Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies confiscated more than $1.5 billion worth of marijuana this year in central Appalachia. Ed Shemelya, head of marijuana eradication in the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, released preliminary figures Tuesday showing that aerial spotters guided ground crews to more than 760,000 plants during the 2012 growing season in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, nearly 430,000 of the plants found in Kentucky, 192,000 in West Virginia and more than 147,000 in Tennessee. They also arrested more than 400 growers in the region. The overall haul was down from last year, when law enforcement eradicated 1.1 million plants valued at more than $2 billion. But the total for this year is expected to rise. The final tally will be available by mid-January.