The Drug Enforcement Administration spent $960,000 to destroy marijuana plants in Oregon during 2014 as part of its “,” according to by NBC affiliate KGW in Portland, Ore.
That year, the DEA succeeded in removing , which at first blush sounds like a lot of weed. But when you do the math, that works out to a cost to taxpayers of $60 per uprooted plant. That is a lot when you consider that nationally, it costs the DEA *ahem* .
2015 busts on illegal Colorado marijuana grows
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The DEA has budgeted $760,000 in marijuana eradication funds for Oregon this year, . Considering that marijuana is now legal in that state, many Oregonians — including some members of Congress — are questioning whether thatap a sensible endeavor. They are trying to that costs about $18 million a year overall.
The DEA defends the cannabis eradication program on the grounds that much of the marijuana grows it targets in Oregon and elsewhere are the products of Mexican drug cartel activity. “This program has proven effective in dismantling and disrupting drug trafficking organizations,” DEA spokesperson .
But some are skeptical, saying that federal authorities the connection between Mexican cartels and marijuana operations in the United States. In 2012, the Office of National Drug Control Policy acknowledged that there wasn’t much hard evidence connecting the cartels to marijuana grown in California. “Based on our intelligence, which includes thousands of cellphone numbers and wiretaps, we haven’t been able to connect anyone to a major cartel,” an ONDCP representative .
Some law enforcement officials in Oregon are dismantling their marijuana eradication programs, according to KGW’s report. “I want to focus on person crimes,” . “Child abuse, sex assault, crimes against people.”
Marijuana, of course, remains illegal under federal law.
