Some of Lawrence County’s underground horticulturalists are discovering their plants have become the target of a widespread eradication effort by the sheriff’s office.

This week, sheriff’s deputies and personnel from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation took to the sky for an aerial search of marijuana plants.

After the first day and only a quarter of the county searched, about 450 plants were found and cut down.

While the topic of legalizing marijuana has been a hot button issue in recent years, growing, selling, possessing and using the drug is still illegal in the majority of the United States, including Ohio.

There are about 20 states in which people can use medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, and Ohio could be included on that list if supporters get the issue on the 2015 or 2016 statewide ballot and voters are in favor.

An effort by Ohio Rights Group stalled at 100,000 out of 385,000 needed petition signatures to make the 2014 ballot.

Actually, an ordinance adopted in 1996 says residents of Granville can have written approval for medical marijuana, although current village leaders were just recently made aware the law was on the books.

Whether Ohio residents like it, the debate on legalizing marijuana is not going away any time soon and eventually voters will have to decide what’s right for them and the state as a whole.

But until then, marijuana possession is a crime and law enforcement should be commended for stunting production and keeping the drug off the streets.