AGENTS MOUNT AIR ASSAULT ON MARIJUANA CROP

Drug Task Force Pulls Thousands Of Plants From Plateau

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter hovered above the treetops on the
mountainside. From the chopper's belly, a thick rope hung to the ground,
appearing to tether the flying machine.

On command from someone on the ground, the helicopter lifted straight into
the blue sky, revealing what must have been one of the most curious sights
to be found in these woods on the Cumberland Plateau. Clipped securely on
the rope was a stack of three men, dangling like marionettes. Around the
waist of the bottom man hung a bundle of green foliage.

It was marijuana, someone's home-grown stash. Now it belongs to the
Governor's Task Force on Marijuana Eradication, a multi-agency effort that
already has found more than 360,000 patches of pot this summer, with
several more weeks remaining in the growing season.

"Somebody is not going to be a happy camper when they check their crop,"
drawled a drug agent, one of several who are spending the summer looking
for marijuana. The agent asked that his name not be used or his precise
location identified in order to protect future searches.

Yesterday, the Task Force visited two Cumberland Plateau counties,
confiscating several thousand plants with a street value of $1,000 to
$2,500 each.

While marijuana confiscation levels have dropped in recent years because of
the rise in methamphetamine labs, the drug continues to be the No. 1
"agricultural" cash crop in the state, with a street value of more than $1
billion a year.

"This is what we do, try to get the drug before it reaches the streets,"
said Maj. Nik Gentry of the Tennessee National Guard Counterdrug Division,
one of several agencies cooperating in the Governor's Task Force.

Also part of the effort are local sheriff's offices and police departments,
the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the state Alcoholic Beverage
Commission, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

"We all work well together. Last year Tennessee had the third-largest
marijuana eradication effort in the country. We have plenty of places to
hide it. Or they think they can hide it," said Gentry.

About two-thirds of the state's marijuana crop is grown on the Cumberland
Plateau and in East Tennessee, he added.

Helicopters assigned to the Guard's Counterdrug Division skim above the
undulating landscape. Pilots and spotters look for the telltale hue of
green that's different from any other green in the Tennessee woods.

"When you know what you're looking for, it just stands out," said one pilot.

Their eyes are sharp. Yesterday, a 3-foot-by-5-foot section of young
marijuana was spotted a half mile off a county road.

"Keep on heading in that direction. You're almost on it," the pilot radioed
sheriff's deputies. Just a few feet away the men saw the stand of pot.

With a few slices of a machete, the crop was harvested. By nightfall the
wilting plants would be added to the others raided during the daylong hunt.
They were to be destroyed in a bonfire.

"Come back tomorrow. We'll do it again," one of the agents said.