Marijuana flying missions are already well under way

A cache of almost 1,000 marijuana plants have already been seized by the Warren County Sheriff’s Department during its seventh year of flying missions.

According to Sheriff Jackie Matheny, a total of 992 marijuana plants have been seized this season, with the most recent haul coming yesterday when 104 plants were seized. A total of seven missions have been flown this season by the Warren County Drug Eradication Team using the sheriff’s department’s helicopter.

“Right now the main fields have been seized in the Harrison Ferry and Hills Creek areas,” Matheny said. “We’re seeing plants upwards of six feet in height which is a pretty good-sized plant.”

Matheny said not as many plants are being found this year as last. During 2002, the sheriff’s department set a new local record for finding plants through the air, seizing over 6,000 small plants in one day. Prior to 2002, the record number from a season was around 4,000.

Flying missions generally continue into September. The missions have been flown since the department was given the pair of military surplus helicopters in 1997 by the federal government to help local jurisdictions in the war on drugs.

– Duane Sherrill