For Colbert County Sheriff Ronnie May, removing any amount of marijuana from the streets is an accomplishment.

It appears that the same sentiment is true among others in the law enforcement community.

Sheriff's departments in the Shoals and across the state are helped in locating marijuana growing in their counties by the Alabama Department of Public Safety's Marijuana Eradication Program.

In years past, eradication efforts in Colbert County yielded 5,000 to 6,000 plants, some 10 feet to 12 feet tall, May said.

In Lauderdale County, Chief Deputy Junior Witt said in early 2000, it wasn't unusual to spot 4,000 to 5,000 plants in a week.

"Our county was actually in the top three in the state," Witt said.

Witt and May said changes in growers' habits and other factors have led to a decrease in the amount of marijuana they find growing in the Shoals.

"In the past several years, the numbers we've been finding have dropped here," May said.

May said marijuana growers have "gotten smarter."

They're growing marijuana in smaller plots which are more difficult to spot from the air.

"It's not in a big square in the middle of a forest," May said. "It's scattered across miles."

Others have moved their operations indoors, he said.

On July 27, the Colbert County Drug Task Force and Sheffield police discovered a marijuana operation in a home in the River Oaks subdivision. They found 100 plants that were 2 feet to 3 feet tall growing in a hidden room of the house. Two people were arrested.

Witt said that by this time of the year, the sheriff's office has already received several tips on marijuana being grown in the county.

So far this year, they haven't received a single call.

"That indicates to me they haven't grown as much," Witt said.

He also believes that growers who were into marijuana for the money have switched to manufacturing methamphetamine, which can provide a profit much quicker than growing marijuana.

"That's not saying it won't make a comeback," Witt said. "It used to be Alabama's number one cash crop."

And it doesn't mean law enforcement will not be looking for marijuana in the air and on the ground.

At different times of the year, the Alabama Department of Public Safety's Aviation Unit provides each county with a helicopter and a pilot for a few days at a time.

The counties provide deputy sheriff's to fly with the pilots to help spot patches of marijuana on the ground below.

When something is spotted, the deputies in the air will contact officers on the ground who will travel to the location, remove the marijuana and destroy it.

Often they employ portable Global Positioning Systems to help them reach their destination.

"The state will furnish the aircraft and the fuel," May said. "We have guys that will volunteer and I will assign some. We've had as few as four and five and as many as 10 to 15 guys, depending on manpower and who's available."

Marty Griffin, special investigations commander with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, said the state's budget for the Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program is $400,000 annually.

He said the money is provided to the state by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program in Alabama was established in 1989.

The program's goal, he said, is to eradicate and attempt to reduce the availability of domestically grown marijuana.

"It's a very productive program considering the amount of funds expended and the amount of cannabis taken off the streets," Griffin said.

"It's basically a support program for the local departments," he said.

May said taking any amount of marijuana off the streets is better than doing nothing.

"Young people start with marijuana and progress up the scale to harder narcotics," May said. "I just firmly believe that any amount we can take off the streets makes a difference."

Griffin said eradication teams frequently work with law enforcement agencies in neighboring states.

Colbert and Lauderdale counties are both on the Tennessee River and share borders with Mississippi and Tennessee respectively.

Wayne County, Tenn., Sheriff Ric Wilson said he has a good working relationship with Lauderdale County Sheriff Ronnie Willis.

Like his counterparts in Alabama, Wilson said Wayne County law enforcement officials are finding less marijuana than in previous years.

"One reason is the drought," Wilson said. "We've found some. The height of the plants we found were a third as big as they should be.

"The weather patterns here have really hurt the marijuana crop," he said.

Two or three years ago, law enforcement agents in Wayne County found a plot containing 500 plants and last year found a seed bed that contained just as many, the sheriff said.

Like May, Wilson said he's finding smaller plots containing eight to 10 plants, which are harder to spot.

"I don't count it as 50 or 100 plants," Wilson said. "If we get four or five here, five or ten there, I'm very satisfied with that.

"Every time we get rid of one plant, that's one less that's going to be in circulation," Wilson said. Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@timesdaily.com.