Forced to water to make up for lack of rain, growers are producing crops that stand out from their dry surroundings. The state has destroyed 15,000 plants so far this year, putting it slightly ahead of last year's tally, Attorney General Betty Montgomery said. The state sends up five helicopters every day to look for marijuana, said Ted Almay, superintendent of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
Plants are easier to find because growers are forced to plant close to a road or a water source.
Almay said most of the state's marijuana crop comes from the southern Ohio where the drought is most severe. Federal officials have declared nine southern Ohio counties disaster areas. In some counties, rainfall for the year is down more than 6 inches. This allows growers to have fewer people wandering around that could stumble onto their fields. Dennis Salisbury, chief deputy with the Gallia County Sheriff's Department, said marijuana production is down this year.