News Editor

More than 120 marijuana plants were seized from an area near the town of Goshen yesterday by the Pike County Sheriff’s Department and the Troy Police Department.

"We cut and destroyed about 123 plants," said Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas. "In maturity the marijuana would have been worth about $2,500 per pound."

Thomas said the seizure and destruction of the marijuana plants was an effort to fight and eradicate the use and production of marijuana and other narcotic drugs in Pike County.

Although the plants had not reached maturity, Thomas said it was still a "pretty good sized patch of marijuana." He said the drought conditions had wilted the plants to an extent.

"The plants were wilted, but they still had the ability to mature into good plants," Thomas said.

He said if the plants had reached maturity, they would have produced about one pound of marijuana per plant.

When the Pike County Sheriff’s Department located the marijuana and pulled it out of the ground, there was evidence that the marijuana had been replanted from starter plants, Thoms said. He said the plnts had been started in cups of potting soil but the root system was never strong enough to break away the cups. Also at the location where the marijuana was found there were small cages around each of the plants, he said.

"The marijuana was planted inside these cages," Thomas said. "The cages are used to keep the plant upright and offer stability for it to grow."

Thomas also said they have not seen as much outdoor marijuana growth in the last couple of years, and supplies are coming from elsewhere.

"Most of the marijuana is not being grown here," he said. "It’s coming from across the Mexican border."

The case is under investigation by the Pike County Sheriff’s Department.