FLYOVER NETS MARIJUANA HARVEST FOR POLICE

LEICESTER - In a four-wheel-drive effort though briars and weed-tangled
embankments in western Buncombe County, drug agents found and eliminated
patches of marijuana worth nearly $650,000.

Thursday afternoon, the Metropolitan Enforcement Group combined with the
Drug Task Force of the Army National Guard in North Carolina to conduct the
county's first marijuana eradication fly0ver of the year. The National
Guard provided two helicopters and pilots trained to spot marijuana from
overhead.

Once identified, deputies with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Department
hiked into plots hidden in dense brush to pull up the stalks, which ranged
in size from six inches to six feet.

"You have to fight the yellow jackets and snakes and the dopers," said Toby
Hayes, agent-in-charge of MEG, about the effort to find the well-hidden
plants. On past missions, one officer needed medical attention after being
stung by numerous bees and Hayes himself required knee surgery when he got
hurt during a difficult trek.

About a dozen plants were discovered in the Reems Creek area, and pilots
spotted the rest in the Leicester community. Together, they collected 268
plants, with 188 stalks coming from a single plot.

"That's a pretty large plot in this day and age," Hayes said, noting that
most growers shy away from cultivating large areas easily visible from the
sky. He added that a pound of processed pot carries a street value of about
$2,400. A healthy plant yields roughly a pound.

If agents are able to determine who cultivated the plots, the plants will
be kept as evidence. Otherwise, they will be doused with diesel fuel and
destroyed, Hayes said. He said that even if no one is prosecuted for
growing the plants, the eradication is worth the effort: "Any amount of
dope taken off the streets, kept out of the chain of dealers and sellers
and buyers is great."

In the 1980s, marijuana was known as something of a cash crop in North
Carolina, said Darryl Hodge of the National Guard Drug Task Force. But
crackdowns by law enforcement agencies - including flyover eradication -
have eliminated that renown.

When the state first began crackdowns in the 1980s, law enforcement agents
statewide discovered 2 million plants. That number was down to 31,000 last
year. Growers are no longer willing to take big risks, Hodge said, because
they know someone just might be watching and hovering overhead.