Deputies are investigating after a pair of elementary-age kids found a 30-gallon trash bag with some pot hidden in some trees in a Telluride neighborhood last Friday.
The kids were playing on April 20 by their homes near Norwood when they found the pot - and promptly told their parents, according to a news release from the San Miguel County Sheriff's Office.
The parents called deputies, who arrived on scene and later found five one-gallon zip-lock bags filled with marijuana in the garbage bag, law enforcement said.
The bags weighed more than four pounds altogether and are worth - depending on the location - anywhere between $22,000 and $40,000, deputies said.
Investigators said, based on the way it was packaged, that it was likely left where it was with the intention of someone else finding and picking it up later. Deputies said they do not believe it is someone's legal marijuana that may have fell off a truck - but more than likely grown on the black market.
If it was grown for medical use, deputies said then the growers are likely over-cultivating and using their medical operation as a front. If it was grown for recreational use, authorities said whoever took it off the farm was immediately committing a felony.
