The San Benito County Sheriff’s Department is being awarded a
$10,000 grant from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to
eradicate local marijuana production.
The San Benito County Sheriff’s Department is being awarded a $10,000 grant from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to eradicate local marijuana production.
The grant is part of a federal effort to bolster regional law enforcement efforts to stop the illegal cultivation of marijuana plants.
“The Bay Area is considered part of a High Intensity Drug-trafficking Area, and San Benito County is just on the southern tip of that area,” Sheriff Curtis Hill said. “This is much-welcome funding.”
Since the county is just outside the HIDA, it was not considered eligible for any of the grant money. However, during the past four years, San Benito County has become one of the leading production sites for marijuana growers.
Last fall, the county was 10th in the state in the eradication of marijuana from illegal gardens with 9,599 plants seized, worth an estimated $38.4 million, according to statistics from the state’s Campaign Against Marijuana Production.
In light of the large marijuana farms in the county, the DEA is now including it as part of the HIDA effort and awarded the grant to the sheriff’s department.
Most of the grant will be used to help the Unified Narcotic Enforcement Team, a regional task force that focuses on drug-related cases.
“This county is going to send a message that we’re going to go hard after the dealers and drug traffickers who try to ply their illegal trade here,” Hill said. “We’re not going to back down from them, not for a minute.”
Hill said his office will also apply for another HIDA grant, one that focuses on drug trafficking as related to gang activity.
“This is just a foot in the door to help us work toward getting these drugs out of this county,” he said.
Hill said drug abuse and trafficking is part of an ongoing and continuous problem facing local law enforcement.
“That’s because there’s a large demand out there,” he said. “And where there is a demand, some criminal is going to be tempted to try and fill it.”
