Associated Press Writer

April 29, 1998

WASHINGTON (AP)-- Marijuana production and distribution in Appalachia is so rampant that members of Congress declared 65 counties in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Tennessee a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, earmarking 6 million dollars to combat marijuana growth in the region.
(Ed. note: "So rampant?" The most rampant thing here is bad journalism, the unquestioned acceptance of prohibitionist party line. However, we can learn the extent of the prohibitionist enterprise by reading their handouts. What this really means is that the government has declared war on some of the poorest people in the country. They will not take kindly to it.)

White House Drug Policy Director Barry R. McCaffrey joined Sen. Wendell Ford, D-Ky., and Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., Wednesday in announcing the creation of the Appalachia area, where task forces of state and federal officials will implement a variety of anti-drug programs.

"If we’re going to get serious about winning the war on drugs, it’s going to take an innovative, focused effort from all segments of our law enforcement and governmental agencies," Ford said Wednesday.

Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee are three of the five states that comprise the "Marijuana Belt"—the region that produces 90 percent of the nation’s domestically grown marijuana.
(Ed. note: There is absolutely no way that they could know that.)

Rural poverty and an optimal climate make marijuana Appalachia’s biggest cash crop. The region is also a hub for interstate drug trafficking.

Appalachia is the 20^th region to be designated a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area since the program’s 1990 inception. The newest area will have headquarters in London, Ky., with operation centers in each of the three states.