By Megan V. Williams
Wilmington, NC – North Carolina's on-going drought may be providing a silver lining for the state's law enforcement, by slowing down outdoor marijuana production.
Marijuana plant seizures in the state have dropped dramatically this year, according to the State Bureau of Investigations, which attributes some of the change to dry conditions.
According to SBI figures, the bureau seized 16,139 marijuana plants between January and the end of October this year, as compared to 92,614 over the same time period last year. Marijuana seizures in general rose dramatically in the state over the between 2004 and 2006.
Drug Enforcement Agency spokesperson Chuvalo Truesdell says some plants seized by agents this summer look like they've been hurt by the drought.
"They weren't as hardy or as healthy. You know, when a plant doesn't get at least adequate amount of water, then that plant is smaller, it isn't as healthy."
When agents started to notice the drop in busts Truesdell says they correlated the decline with the start of especially dry conditions earlier this year.
"I don't think it would definitely shut a person down now. It could, it definitely has a significant impact to sort of, again, slow that organization down."
Truesdell says although the drought has dried up many outdoor marijuana growers' natural water sources, most of them probably aren't moving their operations inside, because indoor operations require greater technical skills.
Outdoor growing season tends to end with the first frost.
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