The DEA spent $73,000 to eradicate marijuana plants in Utah. It didn’t find any.
In 2015, the Drug Enforcement Administration gave $20,000 to the state of New Hampshire to eradicate marijuana plants, according to federal documents. But the Granite State's law enforcement agencies didn't have much luck finding any weed to pull that year — their efforts uncovered a single outdoor grow site with a grand total of 27 plants.
Do the math, and U.S. taxpayers paid $740.74 for each pot plant uprooted in New Hampshire that year.
That's an expensive weeding operation, but it could be worse. Utah received $73,000 in marijuana eradication funds, according to the federal documents obtained and published by journalist Drew Atkins. But agents failed to find a single pot plant to eradicate.
The DEA's $14 million marijuana eradication program has been the subject of a fair amount of criticism in recent years. Twelve members of Congress have pushed to eliminate the program and use the money instead to fund domestic-violence prevention and deficit-reduction programs.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/07/the-dea-spent-73000-to-eradicate-marijuana-plants-in-utah-it-didnt-find-any/