'He also said that during this period the government began using the federal forfeiture law heavily in its drug investigations. The idea was to take control of anything that was aiding and abetting all the drug trafficking.

"The government would go after the boats, the vessels, the property, foreign bank accounts," he said.

The government also began seizing land where marijuana was grown or stored. In 2011, the U.S. Justice Department seized nearly $66 million of so-called "real property." Drug-related land forfeiture in Maine has become a relatively common part of federal investigations, a move that doesn't turn too many heads, that is, until this month, when U.S. attorneys handed down an indictment that seeks to take control of an entire township. McCloskey said he's never seen anything like it.'

Read more: Drug Forfeiture May Lead to Seizure of Township