Illegal drugs and drug law enforcement is not a new concept. Marijuana, which at one time grew wild in Mexico and Texas, was outlawed in Texas in 1930. The first news article we ran across regarding marijuana in Titus County follows:
Mt. Pleasant Daily Times, Mt. Pleasant, Texas
Wednesday, November 4, 1931
Find Marijuana Plants Growing In Mt. Pleasant
Tuesday evening, acting on tips that he had received to the effect that there has been a systematic sale of marijuana going on here, Sheriff Gaddis made an investigation of the premises of Willie Mashack, a Negro woman living in the colored settlement near the oil mill.
He found some of the plants growing in the yard, and also some that had been cut and hung up in the house to dry.
The cultivation of the marijuana plant was made a penal offense during the last session of the Legislature. The plant originated in Mexico, and has been used by the natives of that country in much the same manner as opium is used in other countries. The leaves are dried and are smoked in pipes by addicts of the weed, and it is said that the effects of its use are much the same as those of "dope" drugs.
It is said that a ready sale of the dried leaves is found among Mexicans of this section, but this is the first instance where it is known that the plant is being cultivated here.
The above case was far from the last grower busted in Titus County.
In the 1970s, The Titus County Sheriff's Department raided a non-descript rural farm house that was used to grow and process marijuana near Mt. Pleasant in rural Titus County.
Before the marijuana was cut and hauled away to be destroyed, I photographed the site to document evidence at the scene pertaining to the case for the Sheriff's Department.
It was a mid-sized operation. The house was occupied by a middle-aged man and his wife. They had a large and beautiful garden outside with a nice crop of tall corn plants and beans. However, the corn and beans only served to form a wall around the "real" garden.
In the center was some of the prettiest cultivated and well-tended "grass" you ever saw. In addition, a barn with a small corral sat behind the house and garden. Inside the corral's wooden fence, "grass" was so thick that you couldn't see the ground.
The inside of the house had been converted into a processing plant. In one bedroom, wood-framed screen doors had been placed across saw horses to dry the leaves. The room was equipped with fans and heaters to provide warmth and good air circulation. The bed, too, was covered in leaves. The hall closet contained large black outdoor garbage bags of processed marijuana.
The living room sofa sat about 2-3 feet from the wall. The space between the sofa and the wall was lined with 5 gallon buckets full of marijuana in various stages of being be cleaned and bagged for sale. When the crop was cut and hauled away to be destroyed, it filled a horse trailer.
For those who may be wondering, the coal mine dug up the house and farm several years later. Although new law enforcement technology has made it harder to hide, and this local farm product isn't discussed in polite circles, I'm reasonably sure that small amounts of marijuana are still commonly grown in this area like it is in other parts of Northeast Texas.
