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NEWS BRIEFS
Authorities push pot growers out of Boone forest
By ROGER ALFORD
Associated Press Writer
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The point man in the federal government’s marijuana eradication program in the central Appalachians is claiming victory in a Kentucky national forest that once led the nation in pot production.
But the illegal crop still is thriving on private lands deeper in the mountain range.
Ed Shemelya, the head of marijuana eradication in the region, says the crackdown has pushed growers off the 700,000 acre Daniel Boone National Forest and onto even more rugged terrain.
Shemelya said teams of rangers, police, federal agents and troops who scoured the Daniel Boone this year found only 17,000 plants. That’s a tiny crop compared to the 250,000 plants a year that were eradicated from the forest a decade ago.
