Marijuana plant seizures down in Ohio

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Seizures of marijuana plants during summer eradication efforts in Ohio were down this year as the illegal plants become harder to find, authorities said.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported that authorities found more than 20,470 plants during the summer growing season in Ohio. That’s a 76 percent decline from 2010, when authorities seized a record 84,660 plants in the annual effort.

Authorities tell The Dayton Daily News that outdoor seizures have declined as pot growers increasingly use sophisticated indoor grow operations, which are less easily detected by helicopters.

Scott Duff, special agent supervisor for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said the annual sweep of corn fields by air has had an impact on illicit growers.

“Now it is in small patches spread out; that’s because of us,” Duff told the newspaper.

In the past, it wasn’t uncommon to find a plot of 500 to 700 plants, but now the more typical bust is for 10 to 30. The biggest this year was 200 plants, Duff said.

Statewide, Adams and Meigs counties in southeast Ohio had the most plants discovered: 1,846 and 1,642, respectively.