STRATTON – Two men and a woman arrested on drug charges were not growing marijuana for their own personal use only, according to Maine Drug Enforcement Agency supervisor Gerry Baril.

Police arrested Justin Kuhni and his girlfriend, Courtney Steeves, both 26, at their home in Stratton on Saturday. Several area law enforcement agencies had received information that led police to a field near the home, where they found marijuana plants growing. The harvest, weighing about 78 pounds, and 24 pounds of dried marijuana found in the house, is atypical for someone growing marijuana for just themselves and a few friends, Baril said Wednesday. Police also found 35 grams of hashish and 23 grams of psilocybin mushrooms in the residence.

“They are more than just local growers. They are commercial growers, growing for profit,” Baril said.

Both are charged with unlawful trafficking of drugs.

Also charged was Ryan Cowper, 25, of Coplin Plantation, who was arrested the following day with one pound of marijuana in his home. He is charged with furnishing Schedule D drugs.

Baril said he suspects the growers are supplying clones, seeds and seedlings to others in the area. And it is not simply the quantity of plants that makes him believe they are supplying.

Police found at least a dozen varieties of marijuana at the site, with some species originating from as far away as western Canada and Holland. Seeds from some of the varieties sell for $50 to $300 for a quantity of 10.

People who grow for themselves generally stick with one strain, he said.

Some of the plants they found were also still quite small but were beginning to bud. The plants were designed this way, Baril said, to produce a crop in the least amount of time and maximize the yield.

These growers “are part of the problem than perpetuates the cultivation of marijuana in Franklin County,” he said.

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