cannabisnews.com: South's Moonshining Business Passe South's Moonshining Business Passe Posted by FoM on June 04, 2000 at 10:04:32 PT By Francis X. Clines, The New York Times Source: Seattle Times Call it green lightning, the seedling crop of countless hidden marijuana patches now stippling the spring time "hollers" of Appalachia the way moonshine stills used to when Sheriff Wheeler Jacobs was a boy. "Moonshine's a lost art around here," said Sheriff Jacobs, driving up a back road near Yellow Mountain, a remote area he has watched blossom as a cornucopia of marijuana. "Moonshine went out in the late '70s, just when marijuana started big around here." As the sheriff wheeled about his domain, he could think of only two tired old moonshiners left in these hills, in contrast to 54 youthful "holler dopers" arrested during the past two years in Knott County alone. The back-road yield of illegal marijuana has so multiplied that federal officials, alarmed at a $4 billion cash crop surpassing legal tobacco in some areas, have designated 65 Appalachian counties in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee as a "high-intensity drug-trafficking area." It is one of 31 such regions in the nation, and the only one with marijuana as the single targeted drug, an indication of this region's prodigious rise as a source of high-grade marijuana amounting to an estimated two-fifths of the nation's supply, much of it for the Northeast. "It's almost replaced the moonshining of years gone by as something embedded in the culture and as a way of making an anti-government statement," said Joseph Peters, assistant deputy director of the White House Drug Control Policy Office, which singled out Appalachia for the crackdown two years ago. Since then, more than 1,900 arrests have been made and 5,000 patches of marijuana have been uprooted. National Guard helicopters already have swept through on their spring reconnaissance of the most remote marijuana patches, gathering photo intelligence for harvest time. Jacobs has overtime money to put his four deputies on the hillsides alongside state troopers this summer for the rugged work of cutting and burning. "We're in planting time right now; the marijuana's only a foot high," said the sheriff, gently summoning over a young man who had been warily watching the law pull up to his trailer home. "So this is watching time for me. Destroy it now, and they'll have enough time to plant a fresh crop." Mostly Small Plots Now:Appalachian growers were brazen at first, planting 10,000 or more plants in a single marijuana patch, each plant worth about $1,000 in retail produce, Jacobs said. The first notable lesson that pot does not pay occurred 10 years ago when Donna Hall, a local schoolteacher, her husband and their son were sentenced to prison and their home confiscated after they were convicted of growing 14,000 plants. "A patch of 250 plants is considered big these days," said state Trooper Dean Craft who, through 13 years of patrols, has watched growers become more devious, particularly in using remote acreage of innocent landowners or bountiful glades of Daniel Boone National Forest. Police watch for people in the forest depths with telltale paraphernalia, such as woodsmen packing sawed-off hoes, or hauling a large supply of garden fertilizer, potting soil, water or deer fencing. "Deer and groundhogs are our friends," Jacobs said. "They love pot." Grow Three Patches:A smart grower nowadays tills three patches, the sheriff said: "One for us to find, one for his livelihood and the third for his competitors to steal." He described a competition among growers who booby-trap their patches with skunks, snakes, air horns, fish hooks and even explosives. A sheriff's deputy, Chris Collins, said few tasks were more fun than tracking growers like some modern species of woodland varmint. "It's work, but I love it," the deputy said. "On an early morning with the dew out there, you can even smell a pot patch." Jacobs and his deputies have burned more than $180 million worth of plants in the past two years, much of it found, he said, after quiet tips from people who fear city-style corruption if it is tolerated. "Some people complain I'm cutting down the livelihood of poor, starving people around here," the sheriff said. "I say this money doesn't change their lifestyle. All the dopers want is a new TV, a dish antenna, another ATV to drive up to their patch." Hindman, Ky. Published: Sunday, June 4, 2000Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company Related Articles:Pot: The Cash Crop King http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5740.shtml Search For Pot Growers Intensifies http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5135.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by herr hanf on June 05, 2000 at 10:35:43 PT Revolution! How long will people stand beside and watch Liberty being raped in the name of moralism? I believe I will be leaving the land of the "free" and the home of the "brave" very shortly. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by steve1 on June 04, 2000 at 18:59:39 PT sheriff would have to get a real job? If the marijuana was tolerated the sheriff would have to get himself a real job, or go back to sitting behind his desk with his feet up. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on June 04, 2000 at 11:20:47 PT Bees and Birds "Deer and groundhogs are our friends," Jacobs said. "They love pot." Thanks Sheriff for answering a simple question. It is a simple plant that animals use everyday.. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by dddd on June 04, 2000 at 11:01:46 PT billy bob Hows this for a cops outlook;"A sheriff's deputy, Chris Collins, said few tasks were more fun than tracking growers like some modern species ofwoodland varmint. "It's work, but I love it," the deputy said. "On an early morning with the dew out there, you can even smell a potpatch." This would be quite reminiscent of the days of moonshining,except nowdays,these ol' boys got millions of dollars to play with,not to mention,military choppers,etc.This is a "high-intensity drug-trafficking area." I wonder if there's any corruption amongst the law enforcement good ol' boys down in this neck of the woods???When I hear that police officers are having fun,tracking down people like "woodland varmits",it somehow seems that things are out of hand.From the tales I've heard from several friends,southern justice makes LAPD Rampart look like jaywalkers.And if Billybobs sister is married to the sherriffs daughter,then Billybob can get you out of any legal problem.(true story). Anyway,it sure is disgusting how little progress has been made toward rescheduling marijuana.No one in their right mind would say it is equivilent to heroin,or cocaine....dddd [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: