| A small amount of West Virginia's biggest cash crop went up in smoke in McDowell County last week.
It takes a while to burn $21 million dollars worth of marijuana, but authorities were up to the task.
State troopers in McDowell County spent almost an entire shift destroying the plants seized in a two-day sweep.
Sergeant W. C. Tupper says the troopers began burning the pot at 5 p.m. Thursday, and it took them until midnight to complete the task.
Tupper says the marijuana was so heavy and green that the troopers had to keep turning it to get it to burn.
Tupper led the eradication detachment made up of troopers from the Welch and Princeton detachments as well as conservation officers of the state Division of Natural Resources.
They also had the help of a West Virginia National Guard pilot who flew a reconnaissance helicopter on the two-day mission.
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