Bob O'Neill stands on a secluded hillside in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Jacobs has arrested friends and acquaintances caught growing the plants illegally, and he has faced the backlash from struggling mountain communities where the drug money has become a financial lifeline. While the rest of the nation prospered amid record economic growth, the region's endemic poverty, lack of high-paying jobs and ideal growing climate feeds the illegal industry.
Kentucky marijuana is very prized, especially in the Northeast United States.
In 1998, the 65-county region was designated a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Since then, there have been 1,952 arrests and 5,703 marijuana plots have been eradicated. And you've got some that are just mom and pop organizations. Mike Roution, who turned to growing when his pay check from Pizza Hut couldn't support his cocaine habit, is nearing the end of a five-year prison sentence for growing 185 plants in his Taylor County attic. His wife, a Head Start teacher, filed for divorce while he was behind bars.