J.C. Lawson posed in his marijuana patch on Sept. 15, 1987, near his home in Clay County. The day after a Herald-Leader story ran about Lawson, the state police destroyed hundreds of plants near his home. In the story, Lawson said he no longer sold his marijuana retail. All of it is sold to Ohio dealers for $1,200 a pound, he said. “A lot of the money in Clay County comes from pot.” Lawson said he is a good citizen who provides jobs for as many as 22 people. “There’s bad dope dealers and good dope dealers,” he said. In March 2008, he pleaded guilty to conspiring to grow more than 100 marijuana plants in Clay County in summer 2006. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in November 2008 and was released from prison in July 2013. Photo by J.D. VanHoose | Staff