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Jul-22-2009 01:30printcomments

Yamhill Drug Cops Take Out Another Opium Poppy Grow Site (PHOTOS)

No suspects have been identified in the case but it remains under investigation.

Opium poppies in Grande Ronde, Oregon
Opium poppies in Grande Ronde, Oregon
Photos: Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team

(McMINNVILLE, Ore.) - A crop normally grown in places like Afghanistan and China, the fabled opium poppy, has been making a showing lately in Oregon Willamette Valley farm country.

The Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team raided an illegal poppy plant grow site in rural Yamhill County, On July 17th, 2009.

Sgt. Dwayne Willis with the Yamhill County Interagency Narcotics Team, says the plants were reportedly discovered on private timber lands northwest of Grand Ronde. Willis says the plants were growing in multiple plots in a clear cut area and ranged in size from a few inches to 4 feet in height.

"A total of 24,045 plants were seized by detectives. The estimated street value of the opium contained in the plants was approximately $90,000."

He says this is the second opium poppy plant seizure the drug team has made this month.

The previous grow site was eradicated on July 2nd where a total of 12,056 plants were seized. Investigators believe the two are connected.

More photographs below...




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Johan March 5, 2018 8:20 am (Pacific time)

Hahaha what you are not allowed to grow opium poppies in the US? this is a small field cmon...??? They really got busted for this small field? Damn thank god for not living in the US


dude July 23, 2009 12:19 am (Pacific time)

The only growth in Oregon's economy since 2007


Osotan; July 22, 2009 11:43 pm (Pacific time)

perhaps it was a medicinal plot? It's known thereputic properties are thickly documented.,and this is a lot cheaper than importing it from an area presently involved in the "war on drugs" over this years eight thousand ton,(that's metric tons), opium harvest.


Anonymous July 22, 2009 1:44 pm (Pacific time)

The CIA doesnt want the competition. :-) They did not go through all the effort of obtaining the poppy fields in Afghanistan to support their wars to have someone else come along and grow it in their backyard! Yeesh, what were these people thinking?? There is no reason drugs should not be legalized. 1. I could go out, and within 2 hours, have meth, lsd, marijuana, heroin. Its everywhere, and OUR TAX money spent to stop it has been wasted. 2. Portugal had a huge drug problem, legalized, and it was a great success. 3. Everyone now knows, that every time the government says a war on this, or a war on that, it fails miserably. Drugs are everywhere, poverty is worse, the wars are failures and bankrupting our country. I dont do any type of drug, I am a Henry Weinhard kinda guy, but yeesh.

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Sean Flynn was a photojournalist in Vietnam, taken captive in 1970 in Cambodia and never seen again.



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