Despite statewide legalization, Ohio officials on Monday once again released tens of thousands of federal funds, allowing the Butler County Sheriff’s Office to patrol the skies in a helicopter seeking illegal marijuana grows.
Ohioans in two-adult households can lawfully grow up to 12 marijuana plants since voters legalized possession and home production of marijuana in 2023. Growing more without a permit is illegal.
But from 2012 through the coming fiscal year, the Ohio Attorney General’s office will have contracted with the county sheriff’s office for nearly $1.5 million patrolling for cannabis grows from above, state records show.
The state controlling board, at its meeting Monday, released the latest $70,000 in grant funds for the sheriff’s office to lease a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter and pilot for up to $900 per hour, plus another $50 per hour for a spotter.
Funds come from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, part of a federal government that still recognizes marijuana as a controlled substance despite legalization for adult use in Ohio and about two dozen other states.
The money flows through the Ohio Attorney General’s office to that of the Butler County sheriff, one of few in the state with an aviation unit.
Last year, the efforts of the marijuana eradication and suppression program resulted in 271 illegal marijuana plants pulled and 2,186 pounds of processed marijuana seized in Ohio, according to Controlling Board records.
More detailed data from the DEA show in 2024, Ohio officials seized nearly 15,000 plants from more than 500 growers, making for an average of about 28 plants per illegal grow site.
Steve Irwin, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said in an email that the program is funded entirely by the federal government, and that the Ohio State Highway Patrol and Ohio Department of Transportation have provided aircraft for the office in the past.