The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is asking visitors to be on the lookout for “wild” marijuana plants that are growing within the park boundaries.  Apparently, the marijuana was cultivated in and around the park in years past and now it grows wild within the natural landscape of the lakeshore.  Excerpts and links from the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune:

PORTER, Ind. — Thousands of people visit the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore each year, many to walk the trails in search of rare birds or plants. And visitors are now being asked to keep their eyes open for another wild plant — cannabis.

The huge, sprawling park is apparently home to a large number of naturally growing marijuana plants that have sprouted up from the seeds of plants that were cultivated in the past, according to spokesman Bruce Rowe.

“A very large amount” of it was scheduled to go up in smoke Thursday when police and park rangers eradicate a field of wild pot plants.

National Park Service rangers and law enforcement officers from Burns Harbor and Portage will eradicate it at an undisclosed location inside the park boundaries, Rowe said.

Eradication consists of uprooting plants, counting them and burning them in a high-intensity furnace, according to Rowe, who emphasized the plants appear to be wild and not intentionally grown. It is highly unlikely Thursday’s eradication will result in any criminal charges, he said.

According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, just over 212 million “ditchweed” plants — wild growing marijuana — were eradicated in Indiana in 2005. During that same year, only 7,541 such plants were destroyed in Illinois.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1119986,pothunt082108.article

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-indiana-dunes-pot-webaug22,0,400484.story?track=rss

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