El Paso County Sheriff: We’re winning war on illegal marijuana

In the last 90 days, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has shut down 30 illegal marijuana grows. It’s a small dent in the suspected 600 illegal grows across the county.

Sheriff Elder said, “we are coming and we will shut it down. We will make arrests will take your equipment away. I can guarantee it.

This is a part of a promise he made for the county’s goal in 2018, “I absolutely think we’re going to win. I absolutely believe we now have the tools in place to put this to rest,” Elder said Monday.

He says many of the growers who are caught illegally manufacturing marijuana are abandoning their plants because of the aggressive enforcement. (MUGSHOTS)

The 30 grows found in El Paso County amounted to 2,425 plants and 258 pounds of processed marijuana. In Colorado, a pound of the drug goes for about $1,000, but on the East Coast where most of the drug is being exported, a pound can go for $3,500. That means in the last three months, the sheriff’s office has prevented more than $13 million dollars from landing in the pockets of criminals.

By the end of the year, the Sheriff says he hopes to bust more than 250 suspected grows, cutting the number across the county in half.